BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 15. It is important to
focus also on the messaging that creates confidence in the future
of the industry and encourages continued investment in oil and gas
rather than discouraging it, Secretary General of the Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Haitham Al Ghais said
in an exclusive interview with Trend.


He made the remarks on the sidelines of the inaugural Technical
Committee Meeting of the OPEC+ Charter of Cooperation in Baku.


Haitham Al Ghais recalled that OPEC does not comment on oil
prices and doesn't even forecast the prices.







"I think the prices are a function of so many different
elements, fundamentals and non-fundamental factors that we focus on
the stability between the supply and the demand. That's what we do
through the Declaration of Cooperation and we have been doing it
successfully. Now, we can talk about what levels of investment are
needed. According to our outlook, we need almost $700 billion per
year to sustain the oil industry. That means from now to 2050,
almost $18 trillion in total. That covers the upstream, downstream
and midstream industry. That's significant, and that's what we try
to promote through making sure that the market is stable, that
there is an investor-friendly appetite. We have seen that
declining, of course, over the years when there is a big
oversupply, and the environment is not conducive for investments.
But also, I think, irrespective of the price, I'd like to circle
that back to what we were talking about earlier regarding the
narrative about abandoning oil and gas. The International Energy
Agency said that 2030 is the end of the era of oil and gas. Yet
every year, we are seeing a new record for oil demand. 2030 is less
than five years from today. For the last 10 years, they have been
forecasting that oil demand would peak and that it would be on the
downward trend for the rest of the decade. But this is not
happening. That is why it is important to focus not only on the
price levels that enable and incentivize investment, but equally on
the messaging that creates confidence in the future of the industry
and encourages continued investment in oil and gas rather than
discouraging it," OPEC's secretary general concluded.