It said the investments were part of the estimated $1.5tn
that would be invested in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry
from this year till 2045.
The Secretary-General, OPEC, Sanusi Barkindo, disclosed this
at the African Energy Week in Cape Town, South Africa. Our correspondent
obtained his address in Abuja.
Barkindo said, “In terms of downstream investment, we
estimate a total of roughly $1.5tn will be spent during the period 2021-2045.
“$450bn of this will be invested in new refinery projects
and expansions of existing units. Most of these projects will be located in
developing countries, including Africa.”
He added, “Indeed, the importance of creating an
investment-enabling environment is a further key conclusion from the World Oil
Outlook. Cumulative oil-related investment requirements amount to $11.8tn in
the 2021-2045 period.
“Of this, 80 per cent, or $9.2tn is in the upstream, with
another $1.5 and $1.1tn needed in the downstream and midstream, respectively.”
He observed that creating the stability in the oil market
necessary to attract the required levels of investment had been one of the
primary motivations behind OPEC’s collaborative efforts with 10 non-OPEC
countries under the “Declaration of Cooperation” umbrella.
“This pioneering framework for multilateral energy
cooperation continues to contribute greatly to the post-pandemic economic
recovery as a vital stabilising force in the global oil industry,” the OPEC
scribe stated.
Barkindo, however, told participants at the event that last
year’s oil demand shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in numerous
refinery closures worldwide, and that there would be additional closures in the
coming years.
He further stated that looking ahead, from 2021 to 2026,
OPEC was expecting to see around 6.9 million barrels per day of new refining
capacity to come online, mostly in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Africa.
He said Africa’s potential refining capacity was expected to
start increasing in 2022 at just below 0.4mb/d, before reaching just above
1mb/d in 2026.
Barkindo stated that many of these projects would involve
petrochemical integration.
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