Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih has criticised the West for “promoting the myth of peak oil demand and scare-mongering over vast stranded resources in the fossil-fuel industry”.
Speaking at a summit in Houston, Texas, he said that a “campaign of attacks” on the oil industry will “deter trillions of dollars of vitally needed investment, leading to a disastrous energy crunch, once the current glut is cleared”.
Mr al-Falih added: “Leaders in the West are doing nothing less than compromising the energy security of the world. It will lead to damaging oil price spikes and more acute poverty for developing countries.”
He said that Saudi Arabia welcomes wind, solar and other renewables, but “they cannot quench Asia’s insatiable demand” for more oil or meet supply as global energy demand doubles by 2050.
He went on to say that “the global crude market has not yet tightened enough” and that some countries are “cheating” on production cuts.
“Saudi Arabia will not allow itself to be used by others. The agreement is for the benefit of all, and needs to be addressed by all. We cannot accept free riders.”
The minister said his country will back cuts only for “a restricted period of time” and warned that “speculators with big long positions on crude-oil derivatives should not expect the Kingdom to back up their bets by choking supply.
“I would caution them not to tempt investors into irrational exuberance, or into wishful thinking that OPEC or the Kingdom will underwrite the investments of others at the expense of its long-term interests.”
Mr al-Falih, who attended Texas A&M University, said: “The great exception to the investment drought is what is happening in the US shale industry. The so-called ‘green shoots’ are definitely here in the USA, but they may be growing too fast.
“The problem is that US shale is short-cycle. It is delaying the re-balancing of the global market as a whole, and it may push the long-awaited recovery in oil prices back to 2018.”