HE the former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah has urged countries that relied on oil and gas to diversify their economies.
He was addressing the opening session on 'Energy - global status and challenges' at the Doha Forum on Monday.
Al-Attiyah, also the chairman of Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development, said the energy market was marked over the last 40 years by price volatility, stressing that market prices were the result of supply and demand.
“Opec no longer has the strong ability to influence oil prices, as its share of global oil production is only 30%,” he said.
HE Dr Ibrahim al-Ibrahim, Economic Adviser at the Emiri Diwan, said Qatar’s five-year and other long-term plans were aimed at combating crude price volatility.


HE Dr Ibrahim speaks at the session on 'Energy- global status and challenges' at the Doha Forum.

Dr Antonio Isa Conde, Minister of Energy and Mines of the Dominican Republic, said the drop in oil prices had forced his country not only to diversify its energy sources but also to store crude oil.

“We are moving forward in the use of various types of renewable energy resources such as wind and solar to diversify the nation's energy portfolio.”
The Dominican Republic has also developed a legal framework to tap new investment opportunities along with other reform measures, he said.
Bangladesh Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said the future lay in reliance on 'free' solar energy.
He stressed his country uses the clean and renewable solar energy on a large scale. However, it cannot implement giant projects due to lack of suitable lands.
Bangladesh relies on natural gas, but whose reserves are running out, he explained.
“The decline in oil prices helps some economies at the expenses of others, a fact that must be taken into consideration by Opec,” he said.
In this context, he stressed the need to put in place a new global renewable energy system, urging the petroleum exporting countries to adopt it.
The session was chaired by Pakistan's ambassador and permanent representative to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, Dr Syed Tauqir Shah.
The Director-General of the Vienna-based Opec Fund for International Development (OFID), Suleiman J al-Herbish, said a focus area for Opec was unconventional oil.
He said sustainable development at the social, economic and environmental levels could be achieved only with reliance on energy and stressed that oil would remain the primary source.