World oil demand will remain positive, says Aramco official

Global oil demand will remain positive, driven by urbanization in non-OECD regions and higher demand as feedstock for the chemical sector, Nasir Al Naimi, vice president of Petroleum Engineering & Development, Saudi Aramco, said in a video posted on the company’s official twitter account.

"We believe oil demand will remain positive for some time. Oil will be critical in the urbanization of non-OECD regions as a growing middle class demands more food, wearables and transport," he said during his session, titled: “Energy Markets Explained” at Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) 2018.

The urban population is expected to grow by 2.5 billion by mid-century with urbanized growth in Asia and Africa being especially intense, he added.

According to Al Naimi, oil demand is also expected to be driven by an increase in chemicals.

"With the demand for petrochemicals expected to double over the next 25 years, there is broad consensus that crude oil as a feedstock will experience the fastest growth compared to other oil demand sectors," he noted.

Meanwhile, Al Naimi urged the industry to “innovate and invest in order to remain competitive.”

“We need to invest in both technology and talent. We need to exploit the opportunity of the so-called ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ to make most of each hydrocarbon molecule and of each of our talented workers.”

He emphasized the need to push the envelope through opportunities such as artificial intelligence, deep learning, IT smart agents and big data mining to transform the oil industry.

#Saudi_Aramco Vice President of Petroleum Engineering & Development, Nasir Al Naimi, during #ONS2018 pic.twitter.com/xM6VsmHbBS

— aramco | أرامكو (@Saudi_Aramco) August 27, 2018

Nasir Al Naimi, during his session titled: “Energy Markets Explained” at #ONS2018 pic.twitter.com/KxNugp3tQF

— aramco | أرامكو (@Saudi_Aramco) August 28, 2018