The United Arab Emirates affirmed Thursday their respect for the commitments made within the framework of the alliance of exporting countries OPEC + which includes Russia, the day following the declarations of their ambassador in Washington in favor of an increase in production of OPEC .
Exporting countries are being urged to curb soaring crude prices fueled by the war in Ukraine, especially following the decision by the United States and Britain to stop importing oil from Russia — the second largest crude exporter in the world, behind Saudi Arabia– in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
“The Emirates believe in the value OPEC+ brings to the oil market. We are committed to the OPEC+ agreement and the current monthly production adjustment mechanism,” he said. Tweeted Thursday the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Souheil al-Mazrouei.
“There is no agreement on an increase in production on an individual basis, apart from OPEC+ commitments,” the minister later said in statements to the official Wam agency.
OPEC+ brings together the thirteen members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia and including the Emirates) and ten other non-OPEC exporting countries, led by Russia.
The members of OPEC + refuse to accelerate their production to relieve the market, sticking to the gradual increase of 400,000 barrels per day each month with the objective of returning, at the end of 2022, to volumes similar to those before the coronavirus pandemic. coronavirus.
On Wednesday, the Emirates’ ambassador to Washington, Youssef Al Otaïba, said he was in favor of an increase in production, saying that his country “would encourage OPEC to consider increasing production levels”.
The Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and to a lesser extent Kuwait and Iraq, have a combined spare capacity estimated at between 2.5 and 3 million barrels per day.
But to avoid a price war and control the market, producing countries have an interest in acting in concert, within OPEC but also with their allies within OPEC+.
