Covid, not Ukraine war has caused energy crisis, Aramco chief says at WEF

The war in Ukraine has not caused the current energy crisis, the head of Saudi energy giant Aramco said on Monday.

Amin Nasser, the head of the world's largest oil producer, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the coronavirus pandemic and companies facing pressures to convert to green energy are the main factors behind the current energy crisis.

He said the world is running with two percent of its spare capacity and believes there will be a "major problem" if the aviation industry goes back to functioning at pre-pandemic levels.

“What happened in Russia-Ukraine masked what would have happened. We were going through an energy crisis because of a lack of investment. And it started to bite following the pandemic,” he explained.

He predicted that Covid-19 restrictions in China will soon be lifted and the global demand for oil will then start to increase.

Saudi Arabia is currently producing 10.5 million bpd, which equates to one in every ten barrels produced globally. It is looking to raise output to 11 million bpd later this year when a broader pact between OPEC and allies such as Russia expires.

Western countries have called on the kingdom to raise output more quickly and expand capacity faster to help combat the energy crisis.