The Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) launched a long-term forecast publication titled “World Oil Outlook (WOO)” on September 28. The managers of the world’s largest oil business consortium have compiled a comprehensive study regarding the consumption of black gold across the world in the coming decades. The study guides the international cartel about future scenarios and suggests discourse to endure the monopoly of oil mafia in the revolving situation of the world. According to the revelation of WOO, oil will remain the most consumed fuel in the long term, despite the growing share of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) throughout the world. OPEC’s international strategists were of the view that the share of oil in global energy consumption will decline over the next decades.
According to a report, oil accounted for 30% of global energy consumption during the year 2020, while it will grow to 31% amid recovery in demand after the pandemic by 2025. OPEC’s experts say that the demand for oil will face challenges from alternative energy sources, which will lead to a reduction in the share of oil in the global energy balance to 28% over the span of next three decades. The World Oil Outlook revealed that the demand for renewable energy will grow from 6.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil equivalent in 2020 to 36.6 million barrels per day (bpd). The share of renewable energy sources in the energy mix will increase from 2.5% in 2020 to 10% or more in 2045. The report stated that global demand for oil will move from 82.5 million bpd to 104.4 million bpd over the next five years, but after 2026, the rate of oil consumption will witness a slow down due to developed countries. The demand for oil will stop growing and stabilize after 2035, about 28 percent.
OPEC is the world’s sole oil cartel which controls 50 % of the global oil supplies and owns 90% of the world’s proven oil reserves. The 13-member cartel always attempts to exert control over the prices of precious black gold, while quoting political disarray in the regions, calamities, and diplomatic tension among the countries to manipulate the prices of oil in its favor. OPEC has been playing an important role in driving the world economy and still has very high stakes in world economic order. OPEC has expanded its consortium by inclusion of 10 non-OPEC oil producing countries in the organization during 2016 and presently, it is a 23-member bloc, under the platform of “OPEC Plus”.
The international cartel had been exploiting the economic and political situation in its favor during the past, which instigated the world to search for other sources of energy to end the OPEC’s domination of the international energy market. The discovery of renewable sources of energy and electric motors has belled the alarm in the OPEC headquarters in Vienna and successfully limited the OPEC’s oil diplomacy. Presently, the developed nations are shifting their industrial and transportation infrastructure to renewable energy while OPEC sees its future in developing countries in the coming decades. In fact, the OPEC nations had generated enormous profit through tactful use of their alliance during the past, therefore they must change their discourse to benefit the poor in the world, otherwise the time is not far when they will be searching customers for their products.
