RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—As the West looks to Saudi Arabia for higher oil production amid elevated prices, the kingdom’s officials used an international investment conference here to send a message: Do more to solve energy problems on your own.
Amid a diplomatic spat with the U.S. over oil-production levels, the kingdom took advantage of the opportunity of having the ear of thousands of global investors, government officials and business leaders to deliver the view from Riyadh.
Top Saudi officials warned that the world hasn’t invested enough in fossil-fuel production to stave off another energy crisis related to the war in Ukraine, leaving them vulnerable to shocks this winter. In some cases, Saudi officials said, Western governments were making things worse.
Amin Nasser,
chief executive of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the state-owned energy giant, criticized Wednesday the execution of the evolving global plans to decarbonize, saying they focused too much on investment in renewables and not enough on helping countries transition from coal to cleaner fuels.
“We’re looking at it from a Western point of view and the rest of the world needs to adapt. No, it doesn’t work like that,” Mr. Nasser said during a panel at the Future Investment Initiative, often called Davos in the Desert.
Amin Nasser said the execution of plans to decarbonize focused too much on investment in renewables.
Photo:
Tasneem Alsultan/Bloomberg News
A day earlier, Saudi Energy Minister
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman
took aim at Western governments that have released millions of barrels of crude oil from storage in a bid to ease prices that shot above $100 a barrel after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and have stayed elevated.
Among the Western governments that have released crude from storage is the U.S. President Biden ordered a record 180 million barrels released earlier this year.
“Losing emergency stocks may be painful in the months to come,” Prince Adbulaziz…
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