Saudi Minister Abdelaziz bin Salman believes that “volatility and low liquidity are sending the wrong signals to markets at a time when clarity is most needed”.
Saudi Energy Minister Abdelaziz bin Salman said OPEC+ had the means, in particular, to “reduce its production at any time” to face the challenges of an oil market “falling into a vicious circle of low liquidity. and extreme volatility.
OPEC+, which brings together the oil-exporting countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed in early August to an almost ridiculous increase for the month of September: namely “100,000 barrels per day”, to compared to some 432,000 then 648,000 additional barrels set in previous months.
After soaring at the start of the year as demand picked up with the end of the lockdowns and the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prices fell more than 20% in two and a half months.
“Volatility and low liquidity are sending the wrong signals to the markets at a time when clarity is needed the most,” the Saudi minister said in an interview with Bloomberg, quoted by the News Agency. Saudi SPA.
The Saudi minister warned that “the vicious circle” in which the market is plunged according to him is “amplified by a flow of unfounded stories” relating to “a destruction of demand, news of a return of large volumes of supply , and the ambiguity and uncertainty regarding the potential impacts of price caps, embargoes and sanctions.”
“Within OPEC+, we have experienced a much more difficult environment in the past and we have come out of it stronger and more united than ever,” said the Saudi minister.
“We will soon start working on a new agreement beyond 2022.”
