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UAE's Oil Minister Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei arrives at the Opec headquarters in Vienna December 7, 2018. — Reuters pic
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DUBAI, March 29 — The energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of the world’s biggest oil producers, said today their countries have done their part to balance crude markets.
“We have one mission and only one mission which is stabilising the market. So we cannot be politicising, or bringing politics to the organisation having that debate our aim is to calm the market,” UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei told an industry event.
The Gulf states, close US allies, are members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) as well as a group called Opec+, which includes Opec and other large oil producers such as Russia and Mexico.
Opec+ has come under increasing pressure to pump more crude since Russia, the largest producer in the Opec+ group, invaded Ukraine on February 24, and Western nations enacted sanctions in response that have curtailed Russian oil exports.
Mazrouei said the group was trying to come up with as much volume as possible.
“If we are asking anyone to leave, then we are raising the prices, then we are doing something that is against what consumers want,” said Mazrouei, when asked about rejecting Russia as an Opec+ member because of the Ukraine invasion.
“If a country decides unilaterally, or two countries or five countries, they have all the right to select from which resources they buy, but we cannot decide for all the countries in the world and say you cannot buy these barrels.”
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said Russia produces enough oil every day equal to about 10 per cent of the world’s consumption.
Prince Abdulaziz said that if the security of oil supplies is threatened the world economy will suffer. That security is a priority now and some countries are forgetting about the affordability of energy, he said. — Reuters