Saudi warns of ‘catastrophic’ energy crunch

VIENNA: Saudi Arabia’s oil minister warned of a possible “catastrophic” energy supply crunch without prompt investment. “In years to come, if traditional energy supplies should prove inadequate because capital expenditure was curtailed due to unsustainable prices, unreliable indication of future demand or hopes for a substitute that oil cannot deliver, such a supply crunch would be catastrophic,” Ali Al-Naimi said yesterday.


The painful result would be felt sooner rather than later. It would effectively take the wheels off an already derailed economy.” The world risked disaster by placing too much hope on untested alternative energy sources, Naimi told an OPEC conference of energy leaders. “We frankly court disaster if these supplemental resources on which such high hopes for energy security and sustainability are pinned do not fulfill their high expectations,” he said.

Naimi said the world should not use low oil prices as a reason not to investment in the sources of future production, as to do so would only guarantee further shortages and soaring prices. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, with Saudi Arabia taking a lead role, has made its biggest output cuts ever to haul oil prices back from a $100 drop. for reduced dependence on oil for perceived reasons of environmental sustainability, or seeking independence from a particular region,” he said.

Kuwait Times