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• UAE minister asked to trust OPEC+ decision to not increase oil supply
• OPEC+ has been under pressure from the U.S. to pump more oil to the market
The United Arab Emirates’ energy minister said on Wednesday to trust OPEC and its allies’ decision to not increase oil supply to the market.
OPEC+ has been under pressure from the U.S. to pump more oil to the market.
Suhail al-Mazrouei, the energy minister, told CNBC, “I would encourage people to calm, trust us.”
He addressed that he had received calls from different countries to increase the supply, but he said that OPEC intends to “follow the facts.”
He also referred to EIA predictions suggesting an oil surplus in the first quarter of next year.
“In 2022, we expect that growth in production from OPEC+, U.S. tight oil, and other non-OPEC countries will outpace slowing growth in global oil consumption and contribute to Brent prices declining from current levels to an annual average of $72/b,” the EIA report said.
“It’s going to soften in the first quarter, and we will start to see build up in the inventories in 2022,” said al-Mazrouei on Wednesday.
“That’s what the experts said, and we agree with them, in OPEC,” he said.
He said that since the current plan of OPEC+ to increase production by 400,000 barrels per day each month will already create a surplus, the alliance need not to increase production further.
Oil prices' surge
Since pandemic restrictions have been lifted globally, both U.S. crude and Brent crude futures have risen more than 60% this year.
The U.S. has blamed OPEC for the high energy prices as the alliance is not ready to increase production.
“The idea that Russia and Saudi Arabia and other major producers are not going to pump more oil so people can have gasoline to get to and from work, for example, is not right,” Biden had said earlier.
Picture Credits: Reuters