Conventional oil and gas investments remain key
LONDON -- Investment in conventional oil and gas remains a core component and challenge in the short-to-medium term, despite the move towards a long-term lower-carbon future energy mix, delegates heard at Petroleum Economist’s 5th Annual GCC Energy Strategy Forum in Kuwait City.
While renewables represent the largest growth area in new energy supply, maintaining and growing conventional hydrocarbon production to meet increasing global energy demand is essential, said Andy Brogan, global oil and gas transaction advisory services leader at consultancy EY in a keynote address. And the current $430 billion/yr investment is not enough to keep up with current demand trends, only matching as the minimum requirement for EY’s low oil demand scenario, Brogan said. The firm’s medium demand case requires $750 billion/yr of capital expenditure.
His call for an oil and gas investment focus was echoed in further keynote addresses by H.E. Hashem Sayed Hashem, deputy chairman and CEO at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and by H.E. Abbas Ali Al-Naqi, secretary general of Oapec. The event also heard from Walid Al Nader, chairman and managing director of Shell Kuwait on the importance of gas in the move to a lower-carbon future.
Tackling the challenges of securing the required investment, the Forum took views from Pradeep Handa, general manager in the foreign corporate, oil and trade finance group at National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), Richard Lucas, managing partner at law firm HFW and Rani Selwanes, managing director at NBK Capital.
