Saudi officials downplayed the risk of waning demand for oil as electric vehicles become more mainstream, according to comments made by Saudi Aramco’s CEO Amin Nasser and by former Minister of Petroleum Ali Al Naimi.
Amin H. Nasser, President and chief executive officer of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco).
According to comments at the CERAWeek by IHS Markit conference on Tuesday reported by Bloomberg, Nasser said he is “not losing any sleep over ‘peak oil demand’ or ‘stranded resources.’ We must push back on the idea that the world can do without proven and reliable sources…Oil and gas will continue to play a major role in a world where all energy sources will be required for the foreseeable future.”
According to Bloomberg, Nasser largely avoided talking about the Saudi Aramco IPO, but he did give an interview to CNBC that can be viewed here.
Echoing Nasser on demand concerns, Saudi Arabia’s former oil minister Ali Al-Naimi echoed the sentiment that Saudi Arabia is not worried.
“I would like to put everyone at ease, there are no such worries,” Ali al-Naimi said in Manama, Bahrain, when asked if he sees a threat to oil demand from climate policies and increasing use of electrical vehicles, according to Wael Mahdi in World Oil. Any slowdown in demand from transportation will be more than offset by growth in other industries, he said.
