The CEO of Saudi state oil giant Aramco said on Tuesday crude oil demand was strong even before sanctions were imposed on major Russian oil firms Rosneft and Lukoil and that Chinese demand was still healthy.
"Right now we have to wait and see what will happen with the sanctions," Amin Nasser said on a panel at the Future Investment Initiative conference when asked about oil prices.
"But we definitely know that the demand is strong even before these sanctions were imposed on Rosneft and Lukoil."
On October 22, US President Donald Trump imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on the two Russian oil companies.
Britain had already targeted Lukoil and Rosneft a week earlier, as well as 44 "shadow fleet" tankers in what it described as a new bid to tighten energy sanctions and choke off Kremlin revenue.
Moscow-headquartered Lukoil accounts for around two per cent of global oil output.
Nasser maintained oil and gas would continue to play a significant part in the energy mix for decades to come and that policy shifts in some parts of the world recognised the importance of hydrocarbons.
"We went through a period where everyone said renewables and alternatives and no need for oil and gas, now you can see a lot of u-turns, a lot of shifts," he said.
Trump started his second term in office this year with executive actions aimed at reshaping energy policy, marking a significant departure from the previous administration’s focus on renewable energy and “climate change mitigation”.
(Reporting by Yousef Saba; writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by Kirsten Donovan