The CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, said that the demand for petrochemicals growing is growing and will be the “next wave” of oil use.
During a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Dmitriev said petrochemicals and plastics are needed, “even for electric cars.”
“The petrochemicals industry in Saudi Arabia is around 150 billion market cap, in Russia its only 30 billion,” he said.
Dmitriev also talked about the historic oil cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
“Before it happened, no one believed it was possible,” he said, however, explained that no Saudi-Russian cooperation has a well functioning mechanism to adjust to supply and demand in the oil market.
CEO of Crescent Petroleum, Majid Jafar, argues gas is not a “transition” fuel, but a complement to renewables.
“Gas is going to continue growing. It is necessary for renewables. The UAE, where we are headquartered, has put their energy strategy for 2050 to be almost equal: 40% gas, 40% renewables,” he said.
Additonally, Jafar says investors see US shale as a positive. He says that it enabled natural gas to replace coal in the US and reduce its greenhouse emissions substantially.
