IEA forecast of peak fossil fuel demand ‘impractical’: OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) criticized on Sept. 14 the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) forecast that demand for fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas will peak before the end of the decade, describing such a narrative as “extremely risky,” “impractical” and “ideologically driven.”

Such narratives only set the global energy system up to fail spectacularly, OPEC said in a statement.

Further, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al-Ghais said this would lead to energy chaos on a potentially unprecedented scale, with dire consequences for economies and billions of people across the world.

OPEC said that previous predictions of peak fossil fuel demand had failed to materialize. However, it added that the difference with these forecasts today, “and what makes such predictions so dangerous” was that they were often accompanied by calls to stop investing in new oil and gas projects.

“Cognizant of the challenge facing the world to eliminate energy poverty, meet rising energy demand, and ensure affordable energy while reducing emissions, OPEC does not dismiss any energy sources or technologies, and believes that all stakeholders should do the same and recognize short- and long-term energy realities,” Al-Ghais added.

The IEA, the world’s leading energy watchdog, said Tuesday that the world was now at the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era, The Financial Times reported.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said for the first time that demand for coal, oil and gas would all peak before 2030.

Source: Argaam