Opec secretary general Mohammed Barkindo
IEA and Opec out of step on long-term perspective
The Paris-based intergovernmental organisation has its eyes firmly on a net-zero future. Opec not so much
Opec and the IEA, the world’s two most prominent energy forecasting organisations, released their most recent rounds of long-term outlooks in September and October respectively. But, whereas the former forecasts little dramatic change beyond commitments already made, three-quarters of the IEA’s modelling is focused on more radical scenarios. The Reference Case, and the sensitivity cases based on it, in Opec’s World Oil Outlook 2021 are planted firmly in a future that does not diverge dramatically from the past. Opec secretary general Mohammed Barkindo laid bare how out of step his organisation’s expectations are with ambitions for a significantly lower carbon future in the foreword to the re
Also in this section
9 January 2026
The Latin American producer’s crude prospects rely on a multi-pronged approach where even the relatively easy wins will take considerable time, effort and cost
9 January 2026
While many forecasters are reasserting the importance of oil and gas, petrostates should be under no illusion things are changing, and faster than they might think
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future
