Luanda - The secretary-general of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Haitham Al-Ghais, on Wednesday praised Angola's role in this institution.
Haitham Al-Ghais recalled the moments that he considered "remarkable" of Angola's contributions, represented by the minister of Mineral Resources Petroleum and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, as head of the Angolan delegation at various sessions held by the OPEC.
Angola's most recent contribution, he added, came two months ago when the country took part in the organisation's eighth seminar in Vienna, Austria, where its representatives enriched the event with valuable approaches.
Haitham was speaking at the opening of the International Conference and Exhibition on Oil and Gas, an event he was taking part in for the second time in Angola.
In the organisation, Angola has a crudeoil production quota of 1.4 million barrels/day, at a time when production is still below 1.2 million barrels, which means that it is not yet reaching the figure that it expects to increase in 2024.
In April this year, 2023, Angola was the largest oil producer in Africa, overtaking Nigeria.
According to OPEC's monthly report published at the time, Angola produced 1.06 million barrels of oil a day, benefiting from the 23 per cent drop in Nigeria's oil production, which stood at 999,999 barrels a day, down from 1.3 million in March of the same year.
Market outlook
According to OPEC's global oil projections shared at the event by the Secretary General, the global population is projected to increase by 1.6 billion by 2045, and the global economy is estimated to grow twice as fast in the same timeframe.
With the results of this change, global energy demand is predicted to increase by more than 23 per cent by 2045, and clearly, all forms of energy will be needed, according to Haitham al Ghais.
Oil demand is projected to increase globally by 110 million barrels per day in that year, and this figure could be exceeded if policies promoting alternative forms of energy are not materialised.
To meet future demand, the global oil sector will need a cumulative investment of 12.1 trillion dollars by 2045.
He added that current annual investment has been well below this level, due to the challenges and increasing focus on environmental and social governance.
The OPEC official spoke of the importance of the stability of oil market as one of the essential prerequisites for a favourable investment environment in the industry.
For this reason, OPEC+ has decided to take appropriate action to enable a balance between supply and demand in the market.
Based on observations made by the UN, 675 million people worldwide still lacked electricity in 2021, and in sub-Saharan Africa the figure reached 50 per cent of the population.
Worldwide, 2.3 billion people, representing almost 30 per cent of the global population, continue to rely on poor and polluting energy systems, such as cooking fuels.
According to Haitham Al-Ghais, energy poverty is an example that emphasises the great importance of alternative climate policies that adhere to the principles of equity, responsibility and the achievement of a common goal.
NE/Amp/jmc
