- Saudi Aramco blames the global energy crisis on a lack of investment in fossil fuels, and warned that oil production capacity might be wiped out once economies rebound.
- Amin Nasser, the head of Saudi state oil giant Aramco, explained that Europe's plans to cap energy bills for consumers and tax energy companies were not long-term or helpful solutions for the global energy crisis, spurred mainly by underinvestment in hydrocarbons.
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Aramco has been investing to raise the Kingdom’s oil capacity to 13 million barrels a day by 2027, but Nasser said globally investments in hydrocarbons were still “too little, too late, too short term”. He added that continued underinvestment in hydrocarbons at a time when alternatives to fossil fuels were still not readily available was the root cause of the problem.
Why it matters
Wholesale prices have spiked to record highs this year, driven by rallies across oil and gas benchmarks, amid fears over supply shortages driven by rebounding post-pandemic demand and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Governments across Europe have since ploughed hundreds of billions of euros into tax cuts, handouts and subsidies to tackle the energy crisis, which is driving up inflation.
