Energy leaders united in bullish outlook on global demand

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore. (AFP)

• ADNOC's Al Jaber bullish on outlook
• ADNOC to ramp up output over next decade

SINGAPORE: Leaders of the energy business from the Middle East, Africa and the US were united in a bullish view of global demand for their products at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.
Sultan Al-Jaber, UAE minister and chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) led the way with a strikingly positive outlook.
“In our view the prospects for the value added chain of our industry is very robust, bullish and strong, and we at ADNOC have been very optimistic and bullish about the market situation,” he said.
He based his optimism on the outlook for global economic growth, especially in Asia. “We do known the fact that there is real growth around the world, but there will be an unprecedented growth seen and experienced in this part of the world, especially India, China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia.
“As such we as and oil producing nation have taken a bold decision to advance our development and exploration. We have announced we will be increasing our oil production to 4 million barrels (per day) by 2020 and 5 million by 2030,” the ADNOC chief said.
“The same applies to our gas developments. We are aiming to achieve self-sufficiency and for us to become a net exporter, while we’re also doubling our refining capacity and tripling our petrochemicals capacity.
“As far as out view is concerned, physically the market is very stable, it is only the emotions that have been unstable,” Al-Jaber added.
That positive view was echoed by Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer of US energy giant Exxon Mobil, who said that strong demand in power generation, transport and industry would outweigh the effects of renewable energy types. Gas would be a particularly fast growing part of Exxon’s energy portfolio, he said.
Aliko Dangote, the billionaire sometimes labeled the richest man in Africa, whose industrial conglomerate recently announced plans to build the world’s largest refinery, said that energy demand in Africa would surge on the continent’s fast economic growth and rapidly increasing population.