Excellency, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome to the 5th High-Level Meeting of the OPEC-GECF Energy Dialogue. It is a great pleasure to see our GECF colleagues joining us online.

I am also delighted to be joined by His Excellency, Eng. Mohamed Hamel, Secretary General of the GECF.

His Excellency continues to lead the GECF with dedication, skill and extensive knowledge; attributes that have been the hallmarks of all stages of his career, including his time devoted to OPEC affairs.

Hopefully you have all noticed that OPEC is currently engaged in an intense PR campaign to remind the public of how essential petroleum and petroleum-derived products are for almost every aspect of life. Healthcare, food production, construction, mining, and transportation  ̶  none of these industries could function without petroleum and petroleum-derived products.

This is even the case with the renewables industry. A lithium-ion battery in an electric vehicle has four parts: an anode, cathode, electrolyte and a separator. Separators are engineered microporous membranes, typically made of polyethylene or polypropylene. These are petroleum-based products. Approximately 11 to 15% of the weight of an average wind turbine consists of petroleum-based products like fibreglass, resin or plastic. Taking a typical crystalline silicon solar panel as an example, 10% of this plastic polymer. If we had more time, I would go on.

This message about the sheer and utter dependence of our modern civilization and daily life on petroleum products is something that we repeat in all of OPEC’s communications, publications and speeches. We do it to raise awareness of the very serious repercussions if the calls we hear from some quarters, to stop investing in the oil industry or ‘leave it in the ground’, ever came to fruition.  

Now, if petroleum is essential to modern life; when we include gas alongside petroleum in the equation, it brings home the fact that in 2024, the world remains well and truly in the hydrocarbon age.

From heating homes to cooking stoves to producing the synthetic fertilizers that are essential in producing the food to feed the peoples of this world, life without oil and gas is unimaginable.

In our recently launched World Oil Outlook 2024, we see the combined share of oil and gas in the energy mix remaining above 53% in 2050.

What this also underscores are how important investments are for both our industries. For oil alone, total investment requirements to 2050 are estimated at $17.4 trillion, or around $640 billion per year on average.

These energy realities remind us why the work of our two organizations is so essential and why cooperation between us is so important.

With some overly-ambitious net zero climate targets being unmoored from energy realities, and given we still hear voices calling for no new investments in oil and gas, it is vital that OPEC and the GECF have this type of high-level forum, alongside our talks at the technical level, to come together, exchange views and present a common front.

Throughout our discussions today on energy outlooks, data exchange and methodologies, the international legal environment in which we operate, future joint activities and the buildup to COP29, I have no doubt our exchanges will be grounded in realism.

So in conclusion, once again, I thank the teams, I thank the GECF Secretary General and I wish us all fruitful discussions today and in the future.

Thank you.