Vienna, 20th June 2018 – New investment models will encourage better development of the MENA region’s oil and gas sector, Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum will tell OPEC ministers and industry leaders at the OPEC Seminar in Vienna on Thursday morning. He will stress that enhancing the role of the private sector in the region can help boost competitiveness of its industry as it faces global competition from other regions of the world.
“We need new investment models that will create the right incentives for upstream investment in exploration in new areas, enhanced recovery from mature fields, and gas development, where the region continues to lag despite growing demand from the regional power and industry,” Mr Jafar will note.
Mr Jafar, who leads the Middle East’s oldest private oil and gas company and serves as Board Managing Director of Dana Gas and Vice-Chairman of the Crescent Group of companies, will be speaking on the panel session entitled “Investment in the Oil Industry” at the 7th OPEC International Seminar in Vienna, Austria. Crescent Petroleum is now in its fifth decade as a leading private sector upstream operator in the Middle East region, headquartered in Sharjah, in the UAE and with offices in Iraq and the UK.
More than 750 participants, including ministers, industry leaders and experts will gather at the Imperial Hofburg Palace in Vienna to discuss the global energy outlook, market stability, oil investments, technology, and the state of the world economy. “Our region needs at least $320 billion in investment over the next five years, and the private sector can be an important partner in that. The Middle East has over half the world’s proven oil & gas reserves but represents only a third of the oil market and a sixth of the gas market today, so we have yet to fulfill our potential as a region,” Mr Jafar says.
“Our industry worldwide must also do better at explaining how responsible development and utilization of oil and gas can support the transition to a more sustainable economy,” he adds. “The switch from coal to gas-fired power generation, which emits half the volume of CO2, may have the greatest impact on lowering carbon footprint. “That is why we firmly believe that the oil & gas sectors will continue to play a vital role in meeting world’s energy needs for transportation and power generation going forward, complementing renewables and other energy sources,” he will add.