Global oil sector needs $20 trillion investments: Saudi Aramco CEO

Mary Catherine Wellons | CNBC

Amin Nasser, CEO of Aramco speaking at the 2018 IHS CERAWeek in Houston, TX.

The global oil and gas industry needs to invest more than $20 trillion over the next 25 years to meet expected growth in demand and compensate for the natural decline in developed fields, s Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the CERAWeek conference in Houston, Nasser said the industry has already lost $1 trillion of investments since the oil price downturn from 2014 to 2016.

Future investments needed “will only come if investors are convinced that oil will be allowed to compete on a level playing field, that oil is worth so much more, and that oil is here for the foreseeable future,” Nasser said.

“That is why we must push back on the idea that the world can do without proven and reliable sources. We must challenge mistaken assumptions about the speed with which alternatives will penetrate markets.”

He also said that he was confident that oil market fundamentals and future demand growth would be healthy, despite significant oil price volatility and forecasts of rising shale oil production.