What OPEC oil price forecast for 2022 can be made? OPEC is not to blame for the sharp rise in energy prices; the reason for this is the chronic underfunding of the industry, the organization’s new secretary general, Haitham Al Ghais, told CNBC.

He also called OPEC’s relationship with Russia “strong,” according to a transcript of the video interview posted on CNBC’s website.

“We’re very optimistic about oil demand this year, I personally am pretty optimistic – I think there will still be a pretty big demand from China, shifting consumers of gas, whose prices have skyrocketed, to oil. We’ve seen a large number of consumers in Europe switching to oil recently, which is unexpected, not to mention other parts of the world – Asia, the Middle East,” al-Qais said.

The underestimated factor, he estimated, is a rebound in air travel, which would bring oil demand back to pre-crisis levels. OPEC estimates that demand will return to pre-void levels at the end of the year, the OPEC Secretary-General reminded.

OPEC oil price chart – what happens next?

Al Keys rejected accusations toward OPEC about inflation and rising energy prices. “No, absolutely not. First, everything is relative; second, OPEC is doing its part. We have been increasing production according to what we see and a gradual mechanism that has been very transparent. We work with other countries in the OPEC+ alliance, which produces about 46% of the world’s oil in a very transparent way-the market follows our meetings, knows the methodology. We are doing everything we can to bring the market back to equilibrium, but there are economic factors that are really beyond OPEC’s control,” he added.

The OPEC Secretary-General said that he intends to intensify dialog with all interested parties, politicians, in particular, he is meeting with representatives of the European Union next week.

“OPEC has been knocking on the door for a long time for several years, and we have been waiting for someone to open that door and let us in. Once that happens, it will be in everyone’s best interest because there has to be an understanding that OPEC has nothing to do with rising prices. There are other factors besides OPEC that are really behind the spike in gas and oil prices that we are seeing. And again, I think in a nutshell, to me it’s underinvestment – chronic underinvestment,” he added.

“It’s a harsh reality that people have to wake up to and politicians have to realize. Once that’s realized, I think we can start thinking about a solution here. And the solution is very clear. OPEC has a solution: invest, invest, invest,” Al Qais said.

Earlier we reported on what’s going on in the commodities market.