H E Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum, during the interview with CNBC International.
H E Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum has said that ‘flooding’ of the oil market has led to the oil price plunge.
And the pandemic took it to almost to a very dangerous area where producers could not afford to produce anymore that pushed to negative pricing in the US benchmark WTI.
“I think it was a very big mistake,” Minister Al Kaabi told CNBC International in an exclusive interview. “Now, I think the actions that have been taken by the same group really is to agree what was agreed in the past and keep more sensible … to cater for the supply and demand that we’re seeing,” Minister Al Kaabi said.
“So there is a shortage of that coordination in the beginning of the year, now I think it’s much better,” he said. He hoped that the demand should pick up slowly with people coming out of quarantines all over the world, the lockdowns and especially the movement of transportation in general, mass transportation, airlines taking off again and so on.
Minister Al Kaabi said the possibility of a second wave of coronavirus will continue to weigh on the energy outlook, including liquid natural gas prices.
Read: Qatar will not cut LNG production: Al Kaabi
Scientists and health professionals have warned of a second wave of infections, which could slow the recovery to pre-pandemic levels, alKaabi said. “We may be more prepared for it and have less lockdowns around the world. If that’s the case, then we’ll see a much quicker recovery, maybe in six months to a year. If there is a second wave, then it could take a little bit longer,” he said.
Al Kaabi said that he isn’t worried about the long term because it has largely been “shortterm events that have affected” prices. Still, he warned the coronavirus could have “some longlasting effects” on travel and means of doing business.
“I think you’ll see less people doing business by travelling and more using video conferencing and other means that we got used to now and working from home and so on. So, I think there will be some change in our attitude about whether it’s business travelling or working from home.”
On his expectations of LNG prices rebounding to preCOVD-19 levels, Minister Al Kaabi replied it is difficult to predict what will happen from a year now at this point of time. It all depends whether world will face a second wave of pandemic. The possibility of a second wave of coronavirus will continue to weigh on the energy outlook, including liquid natural gas prices.
Scientists and health professionals have warned of a second wave of infections, which could slow the recovery to pre-pandemic levels, he said. “We may be more prepared for it and have less lockdowns around the world. If that’s the case, then we’ll see a much quicker recovery, maybe in six months to a year. If there is a second wave, then it could take a little bit longer,” he said.
The Minister added, however, that he isn’t worried about the long term because it has largely been “short-term events that have affected” prices. Still, he warned the coronavirus could have “some longlasting effects” on travel and means of doing business.
