The 20th World Petroleum Congress is well under way in Doha, Qatar. The largest convention and exhibition in the industry, it brings together thousands of industry professionals, from ministers and CEOs to key suppliers and analysts.
His Highness, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar opened the event today. here are the key excerpts of his speech:
“The world economy is undergoing major changes and accelerating developments that have led to economic and financial crises that started to affect the cohesion of the regional blocs, the trade and political relations among states, and the capacity of many developing countries, especially poor countries in achieving the general objectives of development. There is no doubt that the energy system is at the core of these changes because all its components and parties affect these changes and are affected by them.”
“The negative impact of producing fossil energy on the environment, particularly air quality due to the rise in harmful emissions and climate change as a result of the worsening problem of global warming are facts that leave no room for argument.”
“But tackling these negative impacts on the environment cannot be handled by a single party in isolation of other concerned parties. For example, the development of clean and renewable energy resources is positive and necessary, and oil and gas exporters strongly support that. But action to achieve this goal by the developed importing countries should not be triggered by malicious reasons, such as not to be dominated by oil exporters, or for not necessarily environmental reasons, as is the case when the development of these resources coincides with the assistance and support for coal production.”
“The events taking place in the Arab region remind us of the debate and concern regarding energy security in view of the region’s important role in meeting the global energy needs.”
“Here I want to point to the numerous assurances by oil and gas exporting countries of their commitment to maintain the flow of these two resources to the consumers, and to exert every effort to fulfill this especially during crises.”
“The overlapping and entanglement of issues create a competitive environment fraught with big challenges and important opportunities which require all of us as exporters and consumers of energy to cooperate in formulating future visions and preparing sustainable solutions to strike a balance between using hydrocarbon resources to meeting our urgent needs of energy especially in the short and medium term and between developing the renewable and alternative energy resources and depending intensively on it in the long term.”
“Cooperation between the two parties is essential so that the transformation process takes place smoothly and in a manner that guarantees their interests together and realizes the optimum use of the available energy resources in the world.”
