Increasing energy efficiency in Arab region is important - OAPEC

AMMAN, June 20 (KUNA) - Secretary-General of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) Abbas Al-Naqi on Thursday stressed the need to increase efficiency of energy use to alleviate burden of non-essential consumption in the Arab region.
This came in a statement to KUNA on sidelines of his participation in the International Forum on Energy Security, organized by the Arab Institute for Security Studies in Jordan.
Al-Naqi noted that domestic consumption rates in several Arab countries soared from 7.6 million to 14.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day between 2000 and 2018.
He pointed out that the reason for this is due to population and economic growth in the region and local prices of energy is inconsistent with the cost.
The Secretary-General stressed the importance of enhancing cooperation among Arab, regional and international organizations and institutions in order to achieve energy efficiency.
He also pointed to the importance of achieving a balance between the two aspects of energy security, despite the existence of assurances through studies and future prospects for the continued increase in demand for oil and gas.
On the risks and challenges that could threaten energy security and the policies that should be adopted, Al-Naqi stressed the importance of technological developments in the fields of research and exploration that help to address the geological hazards associated with depletion of energy sources.
Another challenge is the geopolitical risks that could disrupt energy supplies from major production areas for any reason.
Al-Naqi touched upon the axis of Arab electricity interconnection and its requirements in terms of coordination of efforts to meet the region's electrical energy needs, stressing the importance of encouraging Arab investments to meet the high annual growth in demand for electricity.
Al-Naqi praised the policies of many non-oil producing Arab countries and their great steps in the field of renewable energies, especially solar, thermal and wind energy.
For his part, the Secretary-General of the International Energy Forum Dr. Sun Xiansheng said that we are in an unpredictable market as the supply of non-conventional US oil shale continues to affect oil prices, noting that over the past 10 years, US oil production has had a major impact on the global supply.
The shift in demand from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to extra-OIC centers meant that future demand depended only on countries such as China and India, he added.
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