The chief executive of Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG (OMV.VI) rates the steep rise of the oil price in previous months to be a positive development, he told Austrian newspaper Kurier in an interview published Friday.
"The good thing about the high oil price is that alternative energy sources are becoming profitable," Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer was quoted as saying. "We have to move at full speed in the direction of renewable energy and a moderation of the global energy consumption."
Ruttenstorfer declined to speculate about the future development of the crude oil price, but said in his opinion the price won't ever go below $80 to $100 a barrel again.
The company has previously said it wishes to redefine itself from being an oil and gas company to an integrated energy company. The high oil price could be a push in that direction, Ruttenstorfer told Kurier.
"If the oil demand falls, it will impact the refineries negatively," Ruttenstorfer said. "That means they have to be restructured towards production of petrochemicals, synthetic materials and mixed fuels."
He furthermore said he won't rule out that the price development could prompt OMV to enter into production of water, wind and solar energy.