DOHA – Top Arab energy ministers from Opec arrived in Doha on Dec 11 for the 12th Arab Energy Conference as countries clash at the United Nations’ COP28 climate summit over a possible agreement to phase-out fossil fuels.

Opec secretary-general Haitham Al Ghais in a letter dated Dec 6 urged the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ members to reject any COP28 deal which targets fossil fuels rather than emissions.

Opec members hold about 80 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves, most of which is concentrated among Middle East members.

For the majority of those countries, oil revenue is the main source of income, so any message from COP28 aimed at slashing oil and gas demand becomes a question of survival.

Ministers from Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Libya and non-Opec member Oman arrived for the energy meeting, as well as Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who had been in Dubai for the UN climate summit.

United Arab Emirates Minister of Energy Suhail Al Mazrouei was absent.

The UAE – the second Arab country to host the climate summit after Egypt in 2022 and an Opec member – and other Gulf energy producers have called for what they consider a more realistic energy transition, in which fossil fuels retain a role in securing energy supply while industries decarbonise.

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, who is chief of UAE state oil producer Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and president of COP28, has maintained that a phase-down of fossil fuels is inevitable and essential, but is part of a transition that takes into account the circumstances of each country and region.

Saudi Arabia, the de-facto leader of Opec, and top ally Russia are among several countries insisting that the COP28 conference in Dubai targets emissions, rather than the fossil fuels causing them, according to observers in the negotiations.

Qatar, which left Opec in 2018, but whose position is largely aligned with other oil and gas producing nations, said that it had invested tens of billions of dollars in its liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, even when many doubted the feasibility of such investments.

“Our decision at the time was based on a realistic understanding of market fundamentals and efforts to reduce global carbon emissions,” Mr Saad al-Kaabi, the head of Qatar’s state-run oil company Qatar Petroleum, told the conference.

Phase-out

At least 80 countries including the United States, the European Union and many poor, climate-vulnerable nations are demanding that a COP28 deal call clearly for an eventual end to fossil fuel use.

“Kuwait works according to a policy based on preserving the sources of petroleum wealth and their optimal exploitation and development,” Kuwaiti oil minister Saad Al-Barrak said, adding that oil was a primary source of energy for his country and the rest of the world.

Kuwait reaffirmed its rejection for the inclusion of any call for phasing out fossil fuel consumption and production in the COP28 draft final climate deal, he later said in remarks to Kuwait’s state news agency.

However, the minister said his country deeply believes in the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions to protect the environment.

Like Qatar Petroleum’s Mr Kaabi, Mr Barrak also spoke of the importance of investing in order to increase production capacity for fossil fuel-based energy resources.

Deals at UN climate summits must be passed by consensus among the nearly 200 countries present. The summits aim to establish a consensus on the world’s next steps to address climate change – though it is up to individual countries to ensure it happens through their national policies and investments.

COP28 is scheduled to end on Dec 12, as is the two-day 12th Arab Energy Conference. REUTERS