Chief executives of Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company are optimistic that oil demand will return to pre-Covid levels by the end of the year, after vaccine campaigns and government stimulus.
"Global consumption is currently around 94 to 95 million barrels per day, and we expect it to rise to above pre-Covid levels by the end of this year," said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister for Industry and Advanced Technology, and Adnoc Group chief executive, during an online panel session during CeraWeek.
CeraWeek is an annual event run by IHS Markit.
The chief executive and president of Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser, said oil demand could recover to 99 million bpd next year, helped by growth in energy-consuming markets such as China, East Asia and India.
"We are seeing good cause for optimism and recovery in demand," Mr Nasser said.
"The current demand that we see in the [global] market is about 94 million bpd."
The International Energy Agency and Opec last month revised their demand expectations for this year to about 96 million bpd.
Global oil demand, which slumped in the early part of last year as the pandemic halted all kinds of travel, is set to reclaim 60 per cent of lost volume this year, the IEA said.
Oil prices have surged more than 17 per cent over the past month, supported by vaccine distribution in developed economies and robust Opec+ action.
A strong economic rebound in China, which registered 2.3 per cent growth in gross domestic product in 2020 despite the pandemic, and recovery in India and the US bode well for overall pick-up in crude demand, Dr Al Jaber said.
"From last year's low of about 75 million bpd, the rebound in oil demand has been robust," he said.
Consumption, which faltered in the US and in Europe this year because of renewed lockdowns, is expected to increase as inoculations quicken.
Demand in India, a key Asian importer, was now back to "almost the same as pre-Covid", Mr Nasser said.
"I see demand continue to grow from here, especially from the second half of this year," he said.
Mr Nasser said he expected continued growth in natural gas, despite reservations in some markets about "fugitive" methane emissions.
The term refers to losses and leaks of methane from natural gas production.
The global energy industry is increasingly taking emissions of methane seriously because the gas is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide in warming the Earth's atmosphere.
"Gas still has better credential over other fuels and it will grow significantly in a number of sectors, especially for power generation, and for industrial and commercial use," Mr Nasser said.
Saudi Arabia, which has begun switching its power stations to gas, will generate 50 per cent of electricity from the transitional fuel and the rest from renewables by 2030.
Hydrogen, which is becoming a top alternative fuel of choice for Gulf oil exporters, is also being given priority for investment.
"We are exploring the potential of new fuels such as blue hydrogen, which in fact shows great promise, as a close-to-zero-carbon fuel that could be produced at scale as part of our existing hydrocarbon value chain," Dr Al Jaber said.
Blue hydrogen is formed when natural gas is split using steam methane reforming.
Saudi Arabia is looking to increase production of ammonia, an easily transportable source for hydrogen, and is running pilots to increase output, Mr Nasser said.
"I expect the costs for both the green and blue hydrogen to come down in the future."
Green hydrogen refers to gas produced from renewables.
Saudi Arabia plans to sell green hydrogen produced in the kingdom to Europe by pipeline, its energy minister said last week.
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
Monster Hunter: World
Capcom
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Infiniti QX80 specs
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Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
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Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
Arizona Iced Tea with lemon is one of those beverages, with one 240 millilitre serving offering up 23 grams of sugar - about six teaspoons.
A 680ml can of Arizona Iced Tea costs just Dh6.
Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
TICKETS
Tickets start at Dh100 for adults, while children can enter free on the opening day. For more information, visit www.mubadalawtc.com.
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
