This year’s international gathering to tackle the climate crisis will for the first time have a major presence by an organization that sees oil demand rising to mid-century.
OPEC will have a pavilion at COP28, the United Nations’ flagship climate event due to be held at the end of November in Dubai, according to Secretary-General Haitham Al-Ghais.
“The oil industry will be there at COP and we will be there,” he said at a Gulf Intelligence forum in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday. “I hope all voices will be at the table at COP28.”
There’s been widespread criticism of the oil industry’s presence at COP28 and the decision of the UAE to appoint Sultan Al Jaber, the boss of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., as president of the climate summit. Adnoc is working on expanding crude production capacity in the UAE, OPEC’s third-biggest producer.
Oil consumption will climb 16% over the next two decades to reach 116 million barrels a day in 2045, about 6 million a day more than previously predicted, OPEC said in its World Oil Outlook. OPEC raised its forecasts for global oil demand through to the middle of the century, even as the world shifts away from fossil fuels to avert catastrophic climate change.
Al-Ghais’ comments were echoed by officials from OPEC member states as well as the chief executives of the world’s top energy companies that have expressed their support for the UAE in hosting the climate summit.
At the Adipec oil and gas exhibition and conference in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, top executives including from Halliburton Co., Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc said they were pleased their voices will be heard at COP this year and that the oil industry was an integral part of the energy transition.
