Saudi Aramco Chief urges cooperation among National Oil

BEIJING, November 09, SPA -- Saudi Aramco's President and Chief
Executive Officer Abdallah S. Jum’ah has stressed the importance of
cooperation and engagement among National Oil Companies (NOC) and
with other actors on the global energy stage.


In a keynote address at the Fifth National Oil Companies (NOC) Forum
here last Friday, Jum’ah highlighted “importance of mutually
beneficial collaboration” when speaking on the responsibilities and
contributions of NOCs towards the well-being and prosperity of their
local and national communities.


In his speech before an audience of national oil company executives
and senior officials, Jum’ah suggested five areas of collaboration,
namely operational reliability, joint R&D (Research and Development)
and technology development initiatives, human resource development,
joint investments and business partnerships, and finally cooperation
in environmental protection and stewardship.


Jum’ah said these “avenues for fruitful collaboration” could be
pursued within and outside the framework of the NOC Forum, noting
that such an approach is important in “developing win-win
relationships.”

Jum’ah invited his audience to “look beyond the confines of our own
industry, and explore opportunities for cooperation with other
institutions” such as universities, research laboratories, think
tanks and end-user industries, stressing that “the issues that face
our industry are too important for us to tackle in isolation, and the
challenges and opportunities that confront our companies are too
large to consider taking them on single-handedly.”


Jum’ah explained that as the world is in the midst of a historic
shift in global power and a “March to Modernity” taking place across
several regions of the world, national oil companies “collectively
occupy a prime position … at the very epicenter of world energy.”


“As our planet’s population continues to grow and men and women in
the developing world enjoy ever-higher standards of living, global
energy demand is set for a sustained increase … and despite projected
growth in alternative sources of energy, for the foreseeable future
it is fossil fuels that will continue to meet the lion’s share of
global demand,” he said.

Saudi Aramco’s chief executive noted in his remarks that while NOCs
will shoulder much of the responsibility of providing energy to the
world in order to meet mounting demand, NOCs must also “work together
to reduce the level of emissions being released into the atmosphere.”



A report carried by Saudi Aramco's web-site quoted Jumah as saying
that both objectives--meeting energy demand growth while protecting
the environment--can be met by adopting a “balanced approach,”
combining enhanced methods of producing and consuming energy while
also developing new technologies which can improve energy efficiency.



Jum’ah added that “given their position in the industry, the
proportion of global petroleum reserves and production potential
under their stewardship, and the skills, talents and expertise found
among their workforces, … [NOCs] are uniquely positioned to play a
central role in meeting and mastering these challenges.”
Offering his outlook on future energy demand and the implications for
NOCs,
Jum’ah said that over the long term, demand growth in some major
developed markets will “moderate, flatten or even decline” while
demand in developing countries will rise rapidly, offsetting
declining demand growth in advanced economies.


In such conditions, Jum’ah said, NOCs “will be called upon to
provide an increasing proportion of global crude oil supplies—and to
do so in a more efficient and sustainable manner,” adding that “in
the decades to come the world will increasingly look to our companies
to provide the energy needed to fuel economic growth and
diversification, to sustain social development and prosperity, and to
enable our fellow human beings to realize their fullest potential.”


Addressing Saudi-China energy cooperation, Jum’ah said that Saudi
Aramco is “proud of the role that our energy has played in fueling
this nation’s phenomenal economic development, and consider ourselves
privileged to partner with China and its people in the quest for
greater prosperity.”


The NOC Forum is organized by a different host company or group of
companies every 18 months. The Fourth NOC Forum, in 2006, was hosted
by Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, where 21 CEOs attended the three-day
gathering.

--SPA