OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said on Sunday that the group expects oil demand to exceed pre-pandemic levels this year, reaching almost 102 million barrels a day. Demand is projected to further rise to 110 million barrels per day by 2025, he said. “OPEC remains committed to supporting oil market stability,” Al Ghais said in a speech at the Egypt Petroleum Show. OPEC’s Al-Ghais said the oil industry had been “plagued by several years of chronic underinvestment.” It needs $500 billion of investment annually until 2045, he said. He added that investment in energy security is essential in economic activity and the cornerstone of the stability of energy markets. “It is imperative that all parties involved in the ongoing climate negotiations pause for a moment; look at the big picture,” Ghais said on Sunday at an energy conference in Cairo. They must “work towards an energy transition that is orderly, inclusive and helps ensure energy security for all”. OPEC's top official urged countries to invest much more in oil to meet the world’s future energy needs and said climate policies need to be more “balanced and fair”. His comments came amid a shift among some Western governments and companies regarding fossil fuels. Prices for oil, natural gas, and coal surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, pushing energy security to the top of the agenda for many leaders. US President Joe Biden said during his State of the Union speech last week and said: “We’re going to need oil for at least another decade.” In Europe, Shell Plc signaled it will stop accelerating spending on renewable energy, while BP Plc slowed its planned reduction of oil and gas output. “If ESG-driven policies are implemented with an automatic bias against any and all conventional energy projects, the resulting underinvestment will have serious implications for the global economy, for energy affordability, and for energy security,” Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudi Aramco, said. “As the energy crisis in Europe has demonstrated, alternatives are not ready to shoulder the heavy burden of global demand. Indeed, the world will continue to depend on oil and gas for the foreseeable future, particularly in sectors such as heavy transport, heavy industry, and power generation," he told the Saudi Capital Market Forum in Riyadh. “From my perspective, for a less-risky global energy transition, everyone – including capital markets – must take a more realistic view of how the global energy transition will unfold.”