H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah (left) during the Oil & Money Conference in London.
London: The Chairman of Qatar’s Administrative Control and Transparency Authority (ACTA) H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah attended yesterday the opening ministerial session of the Oil & Money Conference in London. The conference is to run for two days.
Attiyah said that there was a “paradigm shift” in terms of energy demand. He said that emerging countries have become the engine of energy demand growth to fulfil the need for energy for the increasingly wealthy population.
On the global economic recession, and how it has had a disruptive effect on the industry, industrialised countries as well as the emerging ones like China, Brazil and India, Dismissing such concerns Al Attiyah said that the global economy has been what appears to be a reacceleration process.
He added that he expected world GDP growth to increase at least at the IMF forecast of 3.1 percent, noting that the growth will be achieved thanks to a cyclical recovery in Europe and the stabilisation of China’s economy. Al Attiyah maintained that there was some deterioration in economies of many emerging countries, which was reflected in the downward pressure on their currencies.
He said that growth in countries like India, Turkey, Brazil and South Africa would remain under pressure in coming months. However, emerging economies as a whole should reaccelerate.
On the long-term, Al Attiyah said that the economy should be viewed through the lenses of economic theories and business cycles, saying that there were many signs since 2008 like the economic crisis, the slow recovery, the high price of commodities that could point out to such an explanation.
Al Attiyah warned that oil and gas producing countries must be cautious to invest the right amounts at the right time as their investment encompass several decades and several cycles.
Commenting on some of the observers’ opinions that Opec was facing many difficulties on the difficulties facing Opec, he said that since 2000-2010, the increasing oil price was determined by a seller market, adding that investment was high driven by a soaring demand for oil, associated with the economic development of emerging countries.
Al Attiyah stressed that things were not going badly for Opec, but rather labelled it an “exciting time” where Opec will have a bigger role in regulating the oil market.
On whether Shale gas posed a risk on LNG, he said that Shale gas currently represents 40 percent of the remaining gas recoverable resources.
Al Attiyah added that the efforts made towards Shale technology could change the global outlook over decades to come. He maintained however that Shale and LNG were in integration rather than being in direct competition.
QNA
