Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi actually didn’t contradict himself in an appearance on a panel at the Business & Climate Summit in Paris on Thursday. But it might have seemed like it, given some of the headlines that popped up on the Web.

“Saudi Oil Minister Says World Can’t Abandon Fossil Fuels,” the Wall Street Journal said.

“Saudi oil minister sees eventual end of fossil fuels,” reported Reuters.

Both stories were correct, which is why today we offer two quotes to help make sense of Naimi’s remarks:

“You say decarbonize. Are you willing to have me go back home and shut all the oil wells? Can you afford that today? What will happen to the [oil] price if today I remove 10 million barrels per day of the market?” – Wall Street Journal

“In Saudi Arabia, we recognize that eventually, one of these days, we are not going to need fossil fuels, I don’t know when, in 2040, 2050…. So we have embarked on a program to develop solar energy. Hopefully, one of these days, instead of exporting fossil fuels, we will be exporting gigawatts, electric ones. Does that sound good?” – Reuters