Weakening energy demand growth, supply abundance, falling investment in renewables and easing momentum on environmental legislation are driving a “paradigm shift in the global energy landscape,” argues Khalid al-Falih, CEO of state-owned Saudi Aramco, OPEC’s and the world’s biggest oil company.

Aramco was working hard to adapt to these four “sweeping new realities,” Mr Falih told attendees at an energy seminar in Oxford last month.A combination of weaker economic growth and higher energy efficiency, especially in the transportation sector, meant that oil demand was hit disproportionately. Oil demand growth in 2012 is projected at 850,000 b/d or less than 1%, “whereas growth averaged more than 2.3% between 1965 and 2010,” explained Mr Falih. (CONTINUED - 337 WORDS)