IEA should not undermine oil industry investments — OPEC
By Eyo Nsima
The Secretary General, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, Haitham Al Ghais, has called on the International Energy Agency, IEA, to desist from taking actions that could discourage investments in the oil and gas industry.
The Executive Director, IEA, Fatih Birol, has been very critical of OPEC actions, especially the recent production cuts of 1.66 million barrels per day (bpd) from May until the end of 2023, expressing fears that it could lead to higher prices.
However, in his response obtained by The Daily, http://www.thedaily-ng.
He said: “The IEA knows very well that there is a confluence of factors that impact markets. The knock-on effects of COVID-19, monetary policies, stock movements, algorithm trading, commodity trading advisors and SPR releases (coordinated or uncoordinated), geopolitics, to name a few.”
The OPEC Secretary General also reiterated that finger-pointing and misrepresenting OPEC and OPEC+ actions is counterproductive, and stressed once again that blaming oil for inflation was erroneous and technically incorrect as there are many other factors causing inflation.
“Other energy markets have been far more volatile,” he said, “with oil markets less so, mainly due to the stabilizing role of OPEC and the OPEC+ group.” “If anything will lead to future volatility” Al Ghais added, “it is the IEA’s repeated calls to stop investing in oil, knowing that all data-driven outlooks envisage the need for more of this precious commodity to fuel global economic growth and prosperity in the decades to come, especially in the developing world.”
