Global oil prices have reached levels not seen for a decade at over $115 a barrel as disruption to crude and fuel exports from Russia has left the world short of supply. Gas prices have also reached record highs, delivering a combined rise in energy costs that is slowing economic growth.
“The idea was not to sanction oil and gas because of their essential nature but oil is getting sanctioned by private actors not wanting to pick it up or ports not wanting to receive it and the longer this goes on the more supply chains are going to buckle,” said Yergin. OPEC+ producers, meanwhile, are routinely falling short of their targeted supply increases, and the number of operating U.S. oil rigs, while rising, is still 24% below where it was prior to the pandemic.Executives are weighing the need for more oil in the short term with the pressure they face to pump less in the long term as the economy transitions away from fossil fuels.
CERAWeek was canceled in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic exploded, and last year's event was held virtually at a time when oil-and-gas demand was beginning to rebound in earnest from the lockdowns and travel bans that dominated 2020. Back then, top executives, including the CEOs of Shell and BP, suggested that the peak in oil demand could have been reached."The world will continue to demand more energy, not less.