The Shoaiba power plant, a sprawling complex of giant boilers and towering chimneys, is the improbable ground zero of the forces reshaping the energy market. Located in Saudi Arabia, it’s the world’s largest oil-fired electricity generator. At its peak, it gulps about 200,000 barrels a day, more than enough to meet the daily consumption of a small European nation like Portugal1.
If global oil demand is to peak within the next five years, as the International Energy Agency just predicted, it will require more than mass adoption of electric vehicles. Ironically, Riyadh will have to slash its own use of its homemade power source, making the Shoaiba and similar power plants the stuff of yesteryear.
The staggering amount of oil the Saudis consume – 3.7 million barrels a day, the world’s fourth most, behind only the US, China and India — means the kingdom would play a key role in shaping demand to 2030, potentially accelerating peak consumption – or delaying it2.
In its latest projection, released last week, the IEA forecast that Saudi oil demand would see the second-steepest decline in absolute terms between now and the end of the decade, falling by more than 500,000 barrels a day. Only the US, thanks to work-from-home and more efficient gasoline and diesel vehicles, in addition to EVs, would see an even larger drop3.
No comments:
Post a Comment