OPEC Chief Warns of Energy Chaos

OPEC’s top official warned against abandoning fossil fuels, hitting back once again at remarks from the world’s energy watchdog.

Cutting out hydrocarbons “would lead to energy chaos on a potentially unprecedented scale, with dire consequences for economies and billions of people across the world,” Secretary-General Haitham Al-Ghais said Thursday in a statement.

On Wednesday, the International Energy Agency said oil demand may plateau this decade as consumers shift more to renewables to avert catastrophic climate change. “We may be witnessing the beginning of the end of the fossil-fuel era,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said.

The clash marks yet another war of words between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the IEA, which has criticized Saudi Arabia and its partners for risking an inflationary surge by driving up fuel prices.

The Paris-based IEA described the OPEC+ alliance, led by the Saudis and Russia, as a “formidable challenge” to the stability of oil markets, which have faced considerable disruption from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.