Rosneft CEO Delivers Speech On Challenges In Global Energy And Energy Transition

JAKARTA - Rosneft CEO, Igor Sechin, on occasion at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2024 (SPIEF 2024) event shared his analysis of the challenges the world faces in achieving the energy transition. He also highlighted the complexity of the global energy transition strategy. On that occasion, Igor Sechin invited the international community to re-evaluate the currently available energy transition strategy.

"Energy transition must be balanced and focused to meet the majority interest which will ensure energy consumption growth in the coming years," said Igor Sechin, quoted on Monday, June 10.

According to him, to achieve this, decision makers need to ensure adequacy, affordability, and reliability of energy sources. In fact, consumers today not only care about emissions, but also about the security of energy supply from new sources, as well as reliability and comfort in using new technology. Unfortunately, the current green transition strategy does not meet these needs.

Furthermore, the CEO of Russia's leading oil company said that electric vehicles, although considered one of the best strategies of energy transition initiatives, are undeniable that electric vehicles are not a panacea for all environmental challenges.

Demand for electric vehicles is slowing down around the world, although governments from various parts of the world, especially Indonesia, have made many efforts to support this industry. This is because many people prefer to wait for cheaper electric car models. This makes the market move slowly.

In the case of Indonesia, sales of electric cars have indeed shown an increase compared to last year. Quoting the news of autoseconds in December 2023, until November 2023, sales of electric cars were recorded at 13 thousand units.

In comparison, in the previous year, sales of electric cars only reached 10 thousand units. However, the number of electric vehicles is still relatively small compared to the total sales of vehicles which reached 900 thousand units until November 2023.

"Currently, the number of users is still small. The government's target is to have two million units of electric cars and 13 million units of electric motors by 2030, which will reach 10 percent of the population," said Deputy for Infrastructure and Transportation Coordination of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Marves), Rachmat Kaimuddin on the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries YouTube.

Regarding the role of Rosneft and Russia in the energy transition and global energy industry, Igor Sechin highlighted the potential for energy and effort development in strengthening the position of the red bear country in the global energy market.

In the midst of global uncertainty, Russia remains one of the leadings in the energy sector. Despite facing various challenges, the country continues to explore and develop energy potential to strengthen its position in the global market. Recently, the country has also directed energy exports to various markets experiencing rapid development in Asia-Pacific. This reorientation is important to maintain economic stability and take advantage of growth opportunities in the region," he said.

Currently, the Asia Pacific region accounts for more than 80 percent of Russian oil exports. While delivering the opening speech at the 2024 SPIEF Energy Panel, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin also underlined that, for the first time in decades, Europe is facing a new reality where Europeans become poorer.

According to Sechin, although subsidies from the government are available, gas purchase prices force European households to reduce gas consumption in unprecedented amounts. As a result, Europe meets its emission reduction targets by directly reducing energy consumption and slowing economic growth.

The continuation of the policy could eventually destroy the European industry. As we all know, the lowest energy consumption is at the funeral.

In his speech, Igor Sechin also called the green transition' as a form of new colonialism towards developing countries. The overall lack of energy caused by energy transitions and various direct sanctions as well as unhealthy competition has made the energy market unbalanced, the head of Rosneft said, citing examples of restrictions imposed by the US on Venezuela, Iran, and Russia.

Igor Sechin added that these sanctions have affected a total of nearly 18 million barrels of oil production per day and helped the US seize a significant market share. As a result, energy resources have turned into a major US export commodity.

In the forum, Rosneft also signed a technology cooperation agreement with ITMO National Research University on joint development of competitive technology and scientific research in the field of infochemicals, digital modeling, implementing information methods to solve chemical, electrochemical and robotic problems for the needs of the oil and gas industry; strategic cooperation agreement in the information technology sector with 1C LLC; cooperation development agreement in the field of motorcycle tourism with the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Trade and Tourism of the Voronezh Region, the Russian Federation; and cooperation agreement in the field of education with state oil company CUPET (Cuban Republic).