Cop 27: UAE says will supply oil, gas as long as needed

UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan said today his country will continue to supply oil and gas "for as long as the world needs" it.

Speaking at the opening of the Cop 27 UN climate conference he said the UAE is considered as a responsible supplier of energy, and that "it will continue to play this role for as long as the world needs oil and gas."

The president's comment came after UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said the war in Ukraine has "exposed the profound risks of our fossil fuel addiction" and called for an end to dependence on fossil fuels and the building of coal plants.

One of the largest holders of spare reserves within the Opec+ coalition, the UAE in 2018 set sights on raising its crude capacity from 3.5mn b/d to 5mn b/d by 2030. A source familiar with the matter indicates Abu Dhabi is now considering options to accelerate these plans. Argus estimates UAE production rose by 10,000 b/d on the month to 3.19mn b/d in September.

The UAE will host the Cop 28 UN climate summit next year, and the al-Nahyan reiterated the country was the first in the Middle East to set a target of becoming a net zero carbon economy by 2050. He also said the US and UAE have signed an agreement targeting $100bn of investments in energy transition projects. He stressed that oil and gas in the UAE is one of the least carbon intensive in the world, and that they will focus on lowering carbon emissions from this sector.

Opec+ officials have repeatedly championed a decarbonisation approach that employs fossil fuel resources until such a time that they can be fully substituted by clean energy supplies. The group has also repeatedly said consumers should not face pressure to relinquish hydrocarbon fuels if green options are unaffordable.

Coal, and fossil fuels in general, were directly targeted for the first time in a Cop text last year. But the global energy crisis has made the issue of gas as a transition fuel a flashpoint, with some African countries likely to ask for financial support to develop their resources and economies.

Nigeria environment minister Mohammed Abdullahi told Argus on the sidelines of the summit that gas is a transition fuel, and that developed nations cannot tell Africa not to develop their resources.

"The [US president Joe] Biden administration made a lot of investments in oil and gas in the last three years," he said.

Former US vice president Al Gore told the Cop 27 conference that global leaders now have a credibility problem, and said the "dash for gas in Africa is a dash for gas to be sent to wealthy countries".

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