Ministers and officials in Saudi Arabia affirmed that oil policy decisions will be taken in accordance with the logic of the market and within OPEC + . allianceAfter US President Joe Biden concluded a historic trip to the Kingdom.
Biden said late Friday that officials in Saudi Arabia shared his “urgent need” to increase oil supplies, and he expected “further steps in the coming weeks” to that end.
Meanwhile, Saudi officials stressed that any decision to pump more will be taken within the framework of OPEC +, which will hold its next meeting on the third of August.
“We listen to our partners and friends from all over the world, especially the consuming countries,” Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told reporters, but in the end, OPEC + will follow market conditions and will provide energy as needed, according to what was reported by “Bloomberg” and seen by “Al-Arabiya.net”. .
The OPEC+ alliance includes Russia, which the United States is trying to impose sanctions to prevent it from benefiting from its oil revenues due to its invasion of Ukraine. Riyadh was clear regarding its commitment to working within the coalition.
Biden’s trip to the kingdom has been controversial at home, but near-record gasoline prices also pose a political risk.
“I’m doing everything I can to increase supplies to the United States of America, which I expect will happen,” Biden said on Friday.
For his part, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, played down the idea of any agreement. “It is not regarding the agreement. It is regarding the kingdom’s long-term policy of working to ensure that there is sufficient supply of crude oil in the markets and we are following the state of supply and demand very carefully. If there is a potential shortage, we are working to increase crude oil production through and with our partners,” he said. In OPEC and our partners in OPEC +.”
The alliance already moved to speed up production increases in June, following calls from consuming countries including the United States. However, with oil prices dropping from recent highs and recession risks taking over the markets, the picture may change ahead of the upcoming August 3rd meeting.
Under the terms of the current OPEC+ agreement, Saudi Arabia’s production is set to reach 11 million barrels per day next month, a level it has rarely maintained in its contracts as a crude oil exporter.
In an interview with Al-Arabiya, the oil expert, Muhammad Al-Shatti, said that the oil market remains subject to the developments of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, especially with regard to the safety of supplies.
Al-Shatti stated in an interview with Al-Arabiya, that there are also fears of economic stagnation and the return of the “Covid-19” outbreak in China, and the impact of this on demand, but it is not as much as the effect of the scarcity of supplies.
Al-Shatti indicated that the market will be clearer during the next two weeks, when the OPEC Plus alliance meets on August 3.
He pointed out that “the August meeting will determine what will happen in September and whether there will be an increase? Or the continuation of the current situation.”
The oil expert believes that the decline in prices during the past days is a temporary decline for a certain period, then prices will return to the level of $ 100, and will increase according to the vision of speculators and players in the oil markets.