Dr Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of ADNOC Group, delivers a speech during the ADIPEC Conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on November 3, 2025. (Photo: Waleed Zein)
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The bosses of some of the world’s largest energy companies warned the sector needs to invest more in a range of sources, including oil and natural gas, as global power demand continues to rise.
Speaking at the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Monday, Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Group CEO of ADNOC, Abu Dhabi’s oil major, said a “balanced and inclusive approach” was needed to meet the world’s growing energy demand.
Such an approach should embrace the “reinforcement of energy sources, not replacement,” he added.
This should include “policy pragmatism”, embrace of artificial intelligence, capital investment, and infrastructure development to optimize energy, attract capital, and advance technology to enable progress, the ADNOC CEO noted further.
Al Jaber also warned that while volatility may be a current feature of the energy markets, its stakeholders must not get caught cold, adding that oil demand would stay above 100 million barrels per day “beyond 2040.”
“While we may face headwinds in the months ahead, the long-term outlook shows demand growth for every form of energy across every market,” he added.
Getting It Right
This needs to be balanced with capital investment because energy demand will keep surging through 2040 as the power required by datacenters continues to grow. “Instead we find that a shortage of gas turbines is turning a supply crunch into a “choke point” that is sending electricity prices higher,” Al Jaber said.
According to the International Energy Agency, global power demand from datacenters is currently projected to double to over 1,000 TWh by the end of next year. The projected surge is roughly equivalent to the annual electricity use by Japan.
That’s why more than $4 trillion in capital investment is needed annually to cover grids, data centres and all sources of energy supply, Al Jaber said.
The ADNOC Group CEO was joined on the opening day of the event by two of his European peers – Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, and Reinhard Florey, chief financial officer of OMV – who also issued similar calls for pragmatic capital investment in the value chain and resources.
Pouyanné said: “This transition is not about less energy; it is about more energy with fewer emissions. The planet needs more energy, full stop.
“And when we move from thinking in terms of oil and gas to thinking in terms of energy, that still means more oil and more gas, because they remain at the core of the system. But increasingly, the energy everybody is looking at now is electricity.”
Look At The Data, Not The Drama
Sources of capital investment are available, said ADNOC’s Al Jaber. But he added that they need to be “de-risked.”
He called for wider collaboration across the energy sector to get the “right structures” in place for ensuring that the capital flows are directed to the energy segment where they are most needed.
Al Jaber also added that “dormant capital” tied up in existing energy infrastructure needs to be freed up.
“Ultimately, the long-term outlook shows demand growth for every form of energy across every market,” he added. So, when it comes to the energy transition, growing power demand and managing the trilemma of sustainability, security and affordability, Al Jaber called for a “focus on the data, and not the drama.”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2025/11/03/energy-ceos-warn-more-investment-is-needed-as-demand-continues-to-rise/
