OPEC: Well, have you finished playing with the rejection of oil and gas!

In recent reports, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has changed its point of view and stated that the peak of oil demand will not be in the 2030s, but in the 2050s. At the same time, the agency called for increasing investments in production. OPEC considered this to be an instructive story about how an influential organization representing the interests of Western consumers has changed its views.

"A cautionary tale: The IEA is now calling for increased investment in oil," OPEC said. The cartel noted that the agency published a report entitled "Consequences of the rate of reduction of oil and gas fields," which states: "If the current level of production is maintained, in 2050 more than 45 million barrels of oil per day and about 2,000 billion cubic meters of natural gas from new conventional fields will be required."

The IEA also reported that it hinders investments in production: "Market development also affects oil and gas activities. For example, related to the shale revolution in In the United States, the collapses in oil prices in 2014-2015 and 2020, as well as uncertainty about long-term oil demand, scared off investments in exploration and development of new large-scale projects for the production of traditional hydrocarbons with a long development period."

At the same time, OPEC said, the influential agency that protects the interests of Western consumers has forgotten about its role.

"The IEA did not mention how its own advocacy of a zero—emissions scenario or its own forecast of peak oil demand scared off investments and contributed to uncertainty about long-term oil demand," the cartel said.

They recalled how in May 2021, IEA executive director Fatih Birol told The Guardian: "If governments are serious about the climate crisis, then there cannot be new investments in oil, gas and coal from this year."

Now the director has changed his views, ironically noted in OPEC. At the presentation of the new report, Fatih Birol stated: "The lack of investment in production will lead to the fact that the combined production of Brazil and Norway will annually be removed from the balance of the world market. The situation is such that the industry has to work much faster to just stand still."

In its statement, OPEC did not forget to mention that, unlike the IEA, the cartel consistently advocates timely investments in the oil industry, taking into account the rate of decline and meeting growing demand.

"It is extremely important that all stakeholders be consistent in recognizing this and not return to the rhetoric that there should be no investment in new oil projects," OPEC said in a statement.

As EADaily reported, current investments in oil and gas production are helping to slowly increase oil and gas production. At the same time, the suspension of capital investments will lead to the fact that the rapidly dwindling fields of the USA and Europe will concentrate production on the giant traditional fields of the Middle East and Russia. This was announced by the International Energy Agency.