Despite the push by climate change campaigners to ensure that the oil and gas sector is starved with investment and instead shift investment into renewable sources of energy, oil and gas will still be the major source of primary energy, OPEC General- Secretary Haitham Al Ghais has said.
“OPEC has a role to play in supplying the world with oil. We believe oil remains a major primary source of energy in 2050 and beyond, and we are yet to see anybody who will show us the science and data to contradict us,” he said during the recent African Energy Week 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa.
As a result of the push for the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, investment in new oil and gas projects declined in 2020 and 2021 with multinational oil companies diversifying their investment portfolios into renewable energy sources including wind and solar.
Interestingly, according to a report by fdiintelligence.com, between January and August 2022, foreign investors announced 15 greenfield oil and gas extraction projects worth $42bn, which is equivalent to the total capital expenditure (capex) in the previous four full-year periods combined.
That is also more than seven times higher than the $5.4bn of Capex committed in 2021.
At this rate, FDI into oil and gas extraction in 2022 is set to reach its highest level since 2009, when $87bn worth of projects was announced.
This rise in capital pledges follows years of underinvestment in oil and gas as the companies have pushed towards decarbonisation and renewables.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
