The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Monday that oil and gas remained part of key solutions in combating climate change.
Secretary General of the organization, Mohammad Barkindo, stated this in Vienna while speaking against the backdrop of mass mobilization of civil society campaigns against the oil industry.
Barkindo described as “misleading and dangerous” the position was taken by civil society groups that the world would continue to depend on oil and gas in the future – especially as the resources would last until 2040 and account for over 50 percent of the world energy basket.
Barkindo clarified that “In terms of the availability of the resources based underground, there are nearly 1.5 trillion barrels of proven reserves across the world and more than 80 percent of these reserves are domicile in OPEC member countries including Nigeria.
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The OPEC boss opined that combating energy problem world over is at the core of development across the world and that the campaigns against oil will further complicate the energy poverty index and deny the people access to energy.
He, however, noted that focus should be on how to combat greenhouse gas emissions, in particular, CO 2 emissions from fossil fuels by adopting the technology.
