Oil rigs on platforms in Gaoyu Lake in east China’s Jiangsu province Friday, Sept. 17, 2021.
Barcroft Media | Getty Images
Oil and gas will continue to be leading sources of energy for decades to come on the back of a lagging energy transition, major industry players said at the Energy Asia conference held in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur this week.
“We think the biggest realization that should come out of this conference … is oil and gas are needed for decades to come,” said John Hess, CEO of U.S. oil company Hess Corporation.
“Energy transition is going to take a lot longer, it’s going to cost a lot more money and need new technologies that don’t even exist today,” he continued.
When it comes to clean energy, the world needs to invest $4 trillion a year — and it’s nowhere close, Hess said.
According to the International Energy Agency, global investment in clean energy is set to rise to $1.7 trillion in 2023.
The demand projections for [India] are such that we are forced to put up new refineries.
A.S. Sahney
Executive Director of Indian Oil Corporation
Hess said oil and gas are key to the world’s economic competitiveness, as well as an affordable and secure energy transition.
The oil market will be more constructive in the second half of the year, with production going up to 1.2 million barrels a day in 2027, he predicted. He noted that the biggest challenge the world has is the underinvestment in the industry.
“The world is facing a structural deficit in energy supply, in oil and gas, in clean energy,” he said.
Likewise, at the the conference’s opening address, OPEC’s Secretary General projected global oil demand will rise to 110 million barrels a day by 2045. The growth comes on the back of rapid urbanization over the next few years, Haitham Al Ghais said.
John Hess, chief executive officer of Hess Corp., speaks during the Energy Asia Summit, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
In an e-mail exchange Tuesday, the largest U.S. oil producer ExxonMobil reiterated the same.
The company expects oil to remain the largest primary source of energy for at least two more decades given its vital place in the commercial transportation and chemical industry.
“Liquids are projected to remain the world’s leading energy source in 2050, even as demand growth slows beyond 2025,” Erin McGrath, ExxonMobil’s public and government affairs senior advisor, told CNBC.
“Overall, demand for liquids is expected to rise by about 15 million barrels per day by 2050. Almost all the growth will come from the emerging markets of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.”
“This is the region where the growth in energy demand will be, and more to come,” S&P Global’s Vice Chairman Dan Yergin said at the energy conference. He said Southeast Asia’s population alone is 50% greater than the European Union’s.
Growth in LNG markets last year were driven by China, India, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, the chairman of French petroleum energy company TotalEnergies said.
“The demand is in Asia. The demand is here, you have 5 billion people moving population, [asking] for a better way of life. And so this is where we must look to the future,” said Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of TotalEnergies.
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Likewise for oil, one of India’s largest oil companies has increased refining capacities.
“We are probably one of the few companies, one of the few countries who are going to increase refining capacities in the next three to four years by 20%,” said A.S. Sahney from Indian Oil Corporation at a separate panel discussion.
“That shows our belief in [the] continuance of fuel,” the executive director said, acknowledging that energy transition is here to stay.
“But at the same time, the demand projections for the country are such that we are forced to put up new refineries,” he continued.
According to the IEA, India is expected to see the largest increase in energy demand of any country —demand is forecast to rise more than 3% when it becomes the world’s most populous country by 2025.
Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant Aramco is also banking on hopes that China and India will drive oil demand growth of more than 2 million barrels per day, at least for the rest of this year.
Once the broader global economy starts to recover, the industry’s supply demand balances could tighten, said CEO Amin Nasser during his speech at the summit.
Oil demand an ‘ancient story’
Commodities trading firm Vitol is less bullish, predicting that demand for crude will peak in 2030 — two years later than the IEA’s forecast.
“We got it peaking in about 2030 and a gradual decline out to 2040 … And then [a] rapid decline thereafter as the EV fleet and energy transition takes over,” Vitol CEO, Russell Hardy, said during a panel discussion.
While the industry faces good fundamentals in the next few months, Russia’s continued oil production and sputtering Chinese growth complicate forecasts of where prices will go.
Read more about energy from CNBC Pro
“The supply side is slightly overblown, particularly [in] Russia where there were quite a lot of expectations for production loss as a result of the difficulty of getting oil to market because of the sanctions,” Hardy said.
“Because of the global economic malaise at the moment, Chinese recovery is stalling a little bit,” he continued, pointing out that China’s demand for oil has not been as strong as expected.
He observed that Europe and the U.S. have one and a half million barrels a day less demand today compared to 2019 as more consumers are pushed toward renewable sources in Europe and Asia.
On today’s exciting episode of Quick Charge, we don’t even mention “you know who,” focusing instead on EV news from Rivian, Lucid, Nissan, Ford, and what it takes to make a MAN in the heavy truck space. Check it out!
Sure, Nissan is pushing back production estimates on its yet-to-begin-production Nissan LEAF and Ford’s EV sales were down significantly in Q2, but there’s more to the story than the “Faux News” crowd would have you believe. Plus: some new electric success stories from Porsche and a disappointing (but still cool) dive into some new home backup battery tech.
New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (most weeks, anyway). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.
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Got news? Let us know! Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.
he 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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Battery electric cars sold today in Europe produce 73% less life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions than gas cars, even when factoring in production, according to new research from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). That’s a big improvement from 2021, when the gap was 59%.
Meanwhile, hybrids and plug-in hybrids haven’t made much progress. The study confirms what clean transportation advocates have been saying for years: If Europe wants to seriously slash emissions from its dirtiest mode of transport – ICE passenger cars, which pump out nearly 75% of the sector’s pollution – it needs to go all-in on battery EVs.
“Battery electric cars in Europe are getting cleaner faster than we expected and outperform all other technologies, including hybrids and plug-in hybrids,” said ICCT researcher Dr. Marta Negri. Credit the continent’s rapid shift to renewables and the higher energy efficiency of EVs.
The makeup of the EU’s power grid is changing fast. By 2025, renewables are expected to generate 56% of Europe’s electricity, up from 38% in 2020. And that’s just the beginning: the share could hit 86% by 2045. Since cars bought today could still be on the road two decades from now, the growing use of clean electricity will only boost EVs’ climate benefits over time.
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Gas-powered cars, on the other hand, will stay mostly tied to fossil fuels as the cost and availability of biofuels and e-fuels are still uncertain.
Hybrids and plug-in hybrids only cut lifetime emissions by 20% and 30%, respectively, compared to gas cars. That’s partly because plug-in hybrids tend to run on gas more than expected. So while hybrids aren’t useless, they’re just not good enough if we’re serious about climate goals.
Countering EV myths with hard data
There’s been a lot of noise lately about whether EVs are really that green. The ICCT study takes aim at the bad data and misleading claims floating around, like ignoring how the grid gets cleaner over time or using unrealistic gas mileage figures.
It’s true that manufacturing EVs creates more emissions upfront – about 40% more than making a gas car, mostly due to the battery. But EVs make up for it quickly: that extra emissions load is usually wiped out after about 17,000 km (10,563 miles) of driving, which most drivers hit in a year or two.
“We’ve recently seen auto industry leaders misrepresenting the emissions math on hybrids,” said Dr. Georg Bieker, senior researcher at the ICCT. “But life-cycle analysis is not a choose-your-own-adventure exercise.”
ICCT’s new analysis includes emissions from vehicle and battery production and recycling, fuel and electricity production, and fuel consumption and maintenance. It even adjusts for how the electricity mix will change in the coming years – a key detail when measuring plug-in hybrid performance.
The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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The EV2 may be Kia’s smallest electric vehicle, but it has a big presence on the road. Kia promises it won’t feel so small when you’re inside, thanks to clever storage and flexible seating. After a prototype was spotted testing in the Alps, we are getting our closest look at the Kia EV2 so far.
Kia EV2 spotted in the Alps offers our closest look yet
Kia first unveiled the Concept EV2 during its 2025 EV Day event (see our recap of the event) in April, a preview of its upcoming entry-level electric SUV.
Despite its small size, Kia claims it will “redefine urban electric mobility” with new innovative features and more. Kia has yet to say exactly how big it will be, but given it will sit below the EV3, it’s expected to be around 4,000 mm (157″) in length. The EV3 is 4,300 mm (169.3″) in length.
Looking at it from the side, it sits much higher than you’d expect, similar to Kia’s larger EV9. During an exclusive event at Milan Design Week in April, Kia gave a sneak peek of the interior.
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Kia said the interior is inspired by a “picnic in the city,” or in other words, a retreat from the busy city life. With a flat-floor design and flexible seating, you can quite literally have a picnic in the city.
Kia Concept EV2 (Source: Kia)
Although we’ve seen the EV2 out in public testing a few times, a new video provides the closest look at Kia’s upcoming electric SUV.
The video, courtesy of CarSpyMedia, shows an EV2 prototype testing in the Alps with European license plates. There’s also a “Testfahrt” sticker on the back, which translates to “Test Car” in German.
Kia EV2 entry-level EV caught testing in the Alps (Source: CarSpyMedia)
As the prototype drives by, you can get a good look at it from all angles. Like in past sightings, the front features stacked vertical headlights with Kia’s signature Star Map lighting. Even the rear lights appear to be identical to those of the concept.
The interior will feature Kia’s next-gen ccNC (connected car Navigation Cockpit) infotainment system. The setup includes dual 12.3″ instrument clusters and infotainment screens in a curved panoramic display. Depending on the model, it could also include an added 5.3″ climate control screen.
Last month, a crossover coupe-like model was spotted on a car carrier in Korea, hinting at a new variant. The new model featured a design similar to that of the Genesis GV60.
Kia’s CEO, Ho Sung Song, also recently told Autocar that a smaller, more affordable EV was in the works to sit below the EV2. Song said the new EV, priced under €25,000 ($30,000), was “one area we are studying and developing.”
With the EV4 and EV5 launching this year, followed by the EV2 in 2026, it could be closer toward the end of the decade before we see it hit the market. Next-gen EV6 and EV9 models are also due out around then.
The Kia EV2 is set to launch in Europe and other global regions in 2026. Unfortunately, it’s not expected to make the trip to the US.
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