中国石化新闻网讯 据海外媒体1月10日迪拜报道，沙特阿拉伯政府的一名高级官员1月8日在这里说，由于全球金融危机，全球今年的石油需求有可能下降45%。但是，为了确保维持石油供应，全球能源工业应该增加投资。

Pan-Arab Al-Hayat报援引沙特阿拉伯石油大臣纳伊米的顾问马吉德·穆尼夫在1月7日举行的记者招待会上的讲话内容报道说，全球金融危机很可能削减全球石油需求23%至45%。

美国能源情报署（EIA）在去年12月份发表的一份报告中说，全球石油日需求量在2008年减少了5万桶，这个数字在今年将达到45万桶。

全球石油需求减少的主要原因是世界最大的石油消费国美国在2008年平均日减120万桶，全球石油需求量在今年将再日减20万桶。

全球上一次石油需求减少是在1983年。经济疲软以及需求减少已导致美国原油价格从去年7月创下的每桶147.27美元的最高历史纪录下降了100多美元，油价的暴跌迫使欧佩克从今年1月1日起每天削减420万桶的石油产量来设法减少全球的原油库存以及稳定油价。

欧佩克长期以来一直在强调有必要保持油价的稳定来确保能源工业的长期投资。

（李 峻 编译）

Saudi sees global oil demand fall 45pc Dubai: Sat, 10 Jan 2009

Oil demand could fall 45 per cent due to the global financial crisis, but investments should be increased to ensure supplies are maintained, a senior Saudi government official said in remarks published on Thursday.

Majid al-Munif, an adviser to Saudi Arabia's oil minister, said the global financial crisis may cut oil demand by 23 per cent to 45 per cent, pan-Arab Al-Hayat reported, citing remarks made at a conference on Wednesday.

World oil demand fell by 50,000 barrels per day in 2008, and 450,000 bpd this year, the United States Energy Information Administration said in a report in December.

Cooling demand was led by a 1.2 million bpd contraction in top consumer the United States in 2008, and a further 200,000 bpd drop this year.

The last time world petroleum demand fell was in 1983, part of four years of straight declines in oil consumption that began in 1980, the agency said.

The weak economy and lower oil demand has already caused US crude oil prices to sink more than $100 from a record $147 a barrel in July - a slump that has forced Opec to take 4.2 million bpd of oil off the market in an attempt to reduce bulging global crude inventories and stabilise oil prices.

Opec has long stressed the need to keep oil prices stable to ensure long-term investment in the energy industry.

Last month Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali Al-Naimi said the kingdom will continue to invest in upstream and downstream energy projects despite the world economic crisis, but the kingdom's mega projects would not be enough on their own to meet the world's energy needs.