Saudi minister urges global efforts to ensure energy security - Arab News
Saudi minister urges global efforts to ensure energy security | Arab News
RIYADH: Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman on Monday said the whole world should focus on energy security.
Speaking at the World Petroleum Congress in Canada, he described the conduct of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries “benign” and likened its approach to central banks around the world making decisions to fight rising inflation.
The congress is a five-day gathering of officials from oil-producing countries in Calgary, Alberta, Canada’s oil capital.
Prince Abdulaziz said the oil producers’ group is not targeting prices but it is trying to make markets less volatile.
The minister said the international energy markets need light-handed regulation.
He said there was ongoing uncertainty about Chinese demand, European growth and central bank action to tackle inflation.
Asked about Chinese demand, Prince Abdulaziz said the situation “is not bad yet.”
“The jury’s still out. This is the fundamental issue — the jury’s still out.”
Saudi Arabia and Russia on Sept. 5 extended voluntary supply cuts of a combined 1.3 million barrels of oil per day to year end. OPEC, Russia and allied producers are known as OPEC+.
The Saudi minister noted that supply and demand forecasts are not always reliable.
“It’s always better to go by my motto, which is, ‘I believe it when I see it.’ When reality comes around as it’s been forecast, Hallelujah, we can produce more.”
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: nuclear
Nuclear energy provides almost 20 percent of the U.S. electricity supply. Advocates have called for an expanded role for nuclear as an emissions-free fuel source. But the economics of building new reactors are daunting. In addition, lingering safety concerns are an institutionalized part of the calculation of nuclear regulation, and highly radioactive nuclear waste remains a can that public officials have been inclined to kick down the road. The Energy Information Administration projects a sharp decline in nuclear power generation over the next decade, as new nuclear plants — two are planned — are more than offset by anticipated retirements of several operating reactors.