Saudi Aramco does not consider the situation around Ukraine to be the cause of the energy crisis

MOSCOW, 20 Sep — PRIME. The situation around Ukraine is not the root cause of the global energy crisis, stabilization in the region will not put an end to the problems of ensuring energy security, says Amin Nasser, head of the world’s largest oil company Saudi Aramco.

“The conflict in Ukraine certainly increased the effect of the energy crisis, but it is not its root cause. Unfortunately, even if the conflict is stopped today (which we would all like), the crisis will not end,” he said, speaking at the Schlumberger Digital Forum .

According to the head of Aramco, the real reasons are insufficient investment in the oil and gas industry, when alternatives to these resources are not sufficiently prepared, the energy transition is reinforced by unrealistic scenarios and there is no contingency plan. Investment in oil and gas, he noted, has fallen by more than 50% from 2014 to 2021, from $700 billion to just over $300 billion. And growth this year is “too small, too late, too short-term.”

Nasser stressed that freezing or limiting energy bills, increasing the tax burden on companies will not help solve these problems in the long term.

In addition, the world community will have a hard winter, but it will be especially hard in Europe, the head of Aramco added.

“Meanwhile, Europe, aggressively promoting alternative sources and renewable technologies to reduce one set of factors on which it depends, risks simply replacing them with a new set. Traditional energy buyers, who believe that producers will now make huge investments to meet short-term needs, should quickly part with these expectations. And diverting attention from the real reasons, calling into question the morality of our industry, does not solve the problem,” Nasser concluded.