Copenhagen 'must consider oil producers' interests'

AFP – Saudi Arabia’s oil minister called on Friday for any resolution taken at the climate summit in Copenhagen that could affect oil demand to include measures that “reduce the effects” on oil producers.

“Any measures that might affect oil demand should be accompanied by a counter-measure that minimises their effects on oil producing countries,” Ali al-Naimi said in comments published by the Saudi-owned newspaper Al-Hayat.

“Our objective … is to protect our interests,” he added.

Naimi, who is attending the international climate summit, insisted that Saudi Arabia “was not against reducing carbon emissions, quite the opposite.”

But he warned that “the world must develop and that is not possible without energy,” adding that it would take 100 years before renewable forms of energy can meet 40 percent of global demand.

Naimi dismissed as “empty words” any talk of oil running out soon. “I am a geologist and I know that such views are baseless.”

AFP