Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi gave a firm rebuttal Monday to suggestions that his country's domestic energy consumption is growing too fast and will one day impede its ability to export oil.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi gave a firm rebuttal Monday to suggestions
that his country's domestic energy consumption is growing too fast and will one
day impede its ability to export oil.
Speaking at
London
think
tank Chatham House, Naimi said
Saudi
Arabia
's energy consumption growth
is normal for an emerging economy, but said the kingdom is taking action to
slow it down.
"
Saudi Arabia
will
continue to be a stable supplier of crude oil to world markets for many
decades," Naimi said, speaking at the Chatham House think tank in
London
.
"We aren't leaving domestic energy consumption unchecked" but are
investing heavily in energy efficiency and domestic alternatives to oil such as
natural gas and renewables, Naimi said.
"
Saudi Arabia
's
domestic growth won't impact on exports now or in the future. Of this I am very
confident," he said.
Naimi was in part responding to a report published by Chatham House earlier
this month, which warned that without significant policy changes, rising Saudi
energy consumption could deprive the world of 2 million barrels a day of oil
exports by 2020 and make major oil price spikes more likely.
"
Saudi Arabia
's
energy consumption pattern is unsustainable," said the report. "Demand
for its own oil and gas is growing at around 7% a year. At this rate of growth,
national consumption will have doubled in a decade."
Naimi didn't deny that
Saudi Arabia
's
domestic energy use is growing rapidly.
"
Saudi Arabia
is
going through a period of rapid and extraordinary economic growth. This has
been a trend for many years and is normal for any growing economy," he
said.
But this trend won't continue indefinitely and energy demand growth will slow
just as it did in
Europe
and the
U.S.
as
their economies matured, he said.
The Chatham House report urged the Saudi authorities to curb demand growth with
some urgency by increasing domestic fuel prices and pushing for greater
efficiency.
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