OPEC released a formal rebuke on Monday of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the leading intergovernmental organization for energy policy, over the agency's recent critique of the oil and gas industry's apparent long-term commitment to fossil fuels.
In a formal press release, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais directly addressed an IEA report, published on Nov. 23, claiming that the global oil and gas industry faces a "moment of truth." The report found that no future investments in oil and gas exploration can be made if the world hopes to limit an increase of average global temperatures relative to the industrial era of 1.5 degrees Celsius (the warming target of the 2015 Paris Climate Accords).
