Biofuels no threat to Opec, says IEA

Biofuels will provide only a small proportion of the world’s demand for fuel in the next decade, the developed countries’ energy watchdog has said in an attempt to reassure Opec that the need for oil will continue to grow.

Claude Mandil, the head of the International Energy Agency, told the Financial Times that, even in the worst-case scenario for the oil cartel, there would be a “dramatic” need for an increase in production by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Mr Mandil said that even in the worst case for Opec, in which consuming countries implemented policies to curb oil consumption, the IEA forecast that global oil demand in 2015 would rise by close to 10m barrels a day, to 94.8m b/d.

Demand for Opec oil would be 38.8m b/d in 2015, up from about 31m b/d today, while biofuels would provide just 3m b/d. If the oil-consuming countries did not put in place those further policies to encourage biofuel production and fuel efficiency, Opec oil demand would be 42m b/d.

Financial Times