OPEC Secretary General: We will participate with representatives of the oil sector in the COP28 conference

Haitham Al-Ghais, Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said on Tuesday that the world’s major oil producers and representatives of this sector will participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), scheduled to be held in the UAE next month.

Al Ghais said that anyone who works in the energy field and is interested in climate action should participate in the discussions of the conference scheduled to start on November 30 in Dubai.

Al-Ghais added during an energy markets forum in Fujairah, UAE, “I hope that all voices will be on the table at the COP28 conference… The oil sector will be at the conference and we will be there.”

There is a state of division between countries before the climate conference is held, with some demanding an agreement to phase out fossil fuels that cause global warming, while other countries say that coal, oil, and natural gas have a continuing role, alongside technology, in getting rid of emissions.

Al-Ghais said that calls for an immediate halt to investments in the oil and gas fields are misleading and will ultimately lead to “chaos in the energy field.”

These statements come a day after OPEC raised its expectations for global demand for oil in the medium and long term in annual forecasts, as the organization said that investments worth $14 trillion are needed to meet this demand, even with the increased use of renewable energy and the emergence of more electric cars on the roads.

OPEC’s view contradicts the expectations of others, including the International Energy Agency, which believes that demand is likely to reach its peak this decade.