Pressuring oil companies through higher taxes is counterproductive at a time when global crude demand is set to outstrip supply, the CEO of Saudi Aramco, the world's largest and most profitable energy company, said during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Asked by CNBC's Hadley Gamble if a windfall tax on oil profits is a bad idea, Amin Nasser replied:"I would say, it's not helpful for them [in order] to have additional investment. They need to invest in the sector, they need to grow the business, in alternatives and in conventional energy, and they need to be helped." "So we need to see the support from the policymakers, and from the capital markets at the same time. Policymakers in a number of countries are calling for windfall taxes on major oil and gas companies, many of which saw record profits in the last year, as supply shocks and years of underinvestment in the sector pushed prices to multi-year highs.

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