President and CEO of Saudi Aramco Khalid Al-Falih emphasized here today that oil industry is poised now to enter a new golden age. In a speech at the 20th World Petroleum Conference in Doha, Qatar, Al-Falih said that in the light of the overall changes in the world dialogue on energy, including the faltering pace of renewables, alternatives, economic uncertainty and a shift in environmental policy, the petroleum industry will have the ability to achieve prosperity for billions of people around the world seeking higher living standards. “But when I speak about a “renaissance” for our industry, I'm not talking about another decade-long boom where we spend more and make more,” Al-Falih told delegates at the conference, held every three years. “Rather, I am referring to an era where we fulfill our commitments to humanity while also meeting our obligations to the natural environment.” He described four key tenets: stamina, technology, people and responsibility, which could serve as guiding principles for the petroleum industry to come up with long term sustainable solutions. “But while many of the conditions for a new “golden age” are in place, there is nothing inevitable about business success for our companies or greater prosperity for the stakeholders we serve,” Al-Falih said. He called on the global petroleum community to develop solutions that will help the world population, adding the industry's tenet of responsibility also include developing a new generation of young talent, and creating technologies to develop new products in making energy supplies cleaner and more efficient. “The first of those tenets is what I refer to as our “staying power”: the adoption of a long-term approach to business, characterized by both realism and resilience. In other words, it is what an athlete might term “stamina,” Al-Falid told his audience. --More
