• According to a new report from Exxon, oil and gas will remain the dominant energy sources in 2050.
• The company points to population growth and increasing energy demand in developing countries.
• The institute assumes that the use of renewable energies will increase and coal consumption will decrease.

Contrary to forecasts that oil demand will peak in the coming years, Exxon Mobil expects oil and gas to remain the dominant energy sources until the middle of this century.

The oil company said in an outlook published this month that global oil demand will remain above 100 million barrels a day through 2050, even if the share of renewable energy increases.

Broken down by source, oil and gas are expected to account for 54 percent of the global energy mix by 2050, coal 13 percent, nuclear 6 percent, bioenergy 10 percent and renewable energies such as wind, solar and hydropower 15 percent.

This forecast contradicts predictions by the International Energy Agency, which expects oil and gas demand to peak by 2029 and stagnate at 105.6 million barrels per day.

Exxon, the US’s leading oil and gas company, pointed out that the world population will increase from 8 billion today to 10 billion in 2050.

Since half of the world’s population currently lives below Exxon’s “modern energy minimum” – that is, does not have enough energy for housing, infrastructure, jobs and mobility – the company predicts that global energy security will require a 15% increase in global energy consumption by 2050.

This increase in energy consumption is mainly due to a 25% increase in developing countries, whose current energy problems put their residents at risk from harmful cooking fuels, limited electricity supplies and poverty, the report said.

In industrialized countries, however, energy consumption will fall by 10% due to improved energy efficiency.

The report says that even greater adoption of electric vehicles will not impact oil and gas consumption.

“Many people do not realize that making gasoline is a relatively small use of oil,” Exxon’s report said. Most of the world’s oil is used for industrial processes such as manufacturing and for transportation purposes such as shipping, trucking and air travel.

“These services are essential to modern life – and they also drive future economic growth in developing countries,” the report says.

At the same time, the report predicts that carbon dioxide emissions will decline for the first time in 2030. The company’s annual report said last year that the world was unlikely to meet the emissions reduction targets set out in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement to curb the effects of climate change.