HOUSTON – Oil giant Saudi Aramco’s chief executive officer Amin Nasser said the global energy transition is “visibly failing” on most fronts as proponents overlook the impacts on consumers dependent on cheap, reliable fuels.

In remarks at the opening day of the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston on March 18, Mr Nasser lamented the way the oil industry has been painted as the transition’s “archenemy”. 

Mr Nasser also predicted that a peak in worldwide oil demand is unlikely for “some time to come”, let alone by the 2030 benchmark laid out by some policymakers and executives. He sees crude demand reaching an all-time high during the second half of 2024, with significant growth potential in developing countries.

Solar and wind provide less than 4 per cent of the world’s energy supply on a combined basis, and electric vehicle penetration is less than 3 per cent, according to Mr Nasser. On the other hand, natural gas is still a mainstay, with demand growing by roughly 70 per cent since the start of the century. 

Without government subsidies, electric vehicles are as much as 50 per cent more expensive than internal combustion cars, he added.

“They cannot be subsidised forever,” he said. BLOOMBERG