Aramco CEO Nasser: energy routes need collective protection, oil stocks may take 2 years to recover

Right · 1Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser said on Monday 12 October that safeguarding energy infrastructure and supply routes requires collective international action. 1 Right · 1Arab News reports that, speaking at the 25th WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh, Nasser said Saudi Arabia had invested deeply in protecting its supplies but that "no nation, even one as capable and confident as ours, can safeguard them alone." 1 Right · 1He said the region holds around half of the world's proven oil reserves and more than 90 percent of its spare production capacity, adding: "Markets can diversify suppliers. They cannot diversify geography." 1

Right · 1Nasser said the Kingdom's energy system kept performing with high reliability throughout the crisis, and that more than 90 percent of the materials used to restore operations over the past eight months were sourced inside Saudi Arabia, allowing repairs in hours and days rather than weeks and months. 1 Right · 1He said Aramco is working with the Ministry of Energy to study additional crude export routes and expand overseas storage, and is deploying new technologies to inspect facilities and speed restoration. 1 Centre · 1The Media Line reports that Nasser, speaking at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London, warned that global oil inventories depleted during the Middle East conflict could take up to two years to rebuild, even after flows through the Strait of Hormuz return to normal. 2

Centre · 1According to that report, global stocks stood at almost 10 billion barrels when the crisis began, and gross oil supply has since fallen by nearly 3 billion barrels, roughly half of what would normally have passed through Hormuz in the period. 2 Centre · 1Nasser said onshore commercial inventories have dropped well below six billion barrels, called them the "last available buffer", and said pressure on supply chains should persist until Hormuz is fully reopened and market confidence is restored. 2 Mixed · 2Both reports say Aramco intends to raise sales-gas production capacity by about 80% by 2030 from 2021 levels. 1 2

Right · 1Nasser also said oil and gas will remain at the core of the global energy mix, argued the transition must respect developing nations' growth ambitions, and called for greater recognition of the value of resilience: "There is real value in disruption avoided." 1