Age Of Oil Not Coming To End, It Still Has Prospects In Asia, Africa - Kneissl

ST. PETERSBURG (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th June, 2021) The age of oil is not over yet, as oil has a great potential in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa, ex-Austrian Foreign Minister, independent director of Russia's Rosneft Board of Directors Karin Kneissl told reporters.

"I was only seven years old when the Club of Rome reported that the oil demand will stop by 2000 ... I started to get interested in the oil market and write about it only at the age of 32. I had my first OPEC meeting then. Now I'm 56. So you can say 25 years of observing the oil market in a professional, serious way. And I've seen so many predictions in this period! But I still don't feel that the oil age is coming to an end," Kneissl said at a briefing at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

According to Kneissl, since 2006, oil consumption has been decreasing in the traditional markets of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, while demand has been showing a continuous growth in Asia for several reasons, such as economic development and the demographic factor.

"I've always underlined that it's the East that plays the decisive role, not the West. And the energy market as it is more dynamically developing in the East.

And you shouldn't also discount the African continent," the independent member of Rosneft's board of directors went on to say.

Just recently, the oil demand stood at 100 million barrels daily, but in 2020 it dropped sharply because of the coronavirus pandemic. It has recovered to around 90 million barrels and is likely to total 90-100 million barrels in the foreseeable future, Kneissl added. At the same time, different scenarios are possible, according to the official. For instance, oil consumption will grow if the pandemic is controllable, no lockdowns are introduced and vaccination is continuing successfully. However, the virus may mutate again.

"In this scenario, my forecast about 90 to 100 million barrels is not correct. And these are not all scenarios. There are scenarios and sub-scenarios of major political clashes, including the ones with the military, which, on the contrary, lead to an oil price hike," Kneissl concluded.

SPIEF-2021 was held from June 2-5 in the Russian city of St.Petersburg. The Rossiya Segodnya international information agency was an official media partner of the event.