IEA: The world needs upstream oil and gas investment

The world needs upstream investments in existing oil and gas fields to support global energy security, Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston.

The IEA famously said in 2021 that no investments in new oil and gas fields are needed if the world has a chance to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

The Paris-based agency has repeatedly said since 2021 that the world not need any new long lead-time conventional oil and gas projects or coal mines approved after 2023 as the surge in clean energy deployment could lead to peak fossil fuel demand this decade.

This decade, the IEA, created in response to the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s, has shifted its focus to advocating for and promoting clean energy investments and transition and has often expressed the opinion that achieving net zero wouldn’t be possible with investments in new oil and gas production.

These opinions, alongside forecasts that peak oil demand will happen this decade, have drawn harsh criticism from OPEC, which has repeatedly slammed the IEA for “dangerous” forecasts that would hurt consumers and “only lead to energy volatility on a potentially unprecedented scale.”

At CERAWeek, the IEA’s Birol said “I want to make it clear … there would be a need for investment, especially to address the decline in the existing fields.”

“There is a need for oil and gas upstream investments, full stop,” Birol added.

Of the $400 billion annual investment in oil and gas, $360 billion goes into offsetting the decline in existing fields, according to the IEA official.

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Source: Oil Price

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