OPEC and its allies are looking to find a balance in the global oil market through plans to cut production next year to prevent a growing supply, while consensus is taking shape among members to support a decision to stabilize the market, according to Suhail Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy.
Al-Mazrouei, who heads the OPEC in 2018, said on Wednesday that producers would have to cut oil production next year.
“We have seen the risk of an increase in inventories if we didn't do anything and we will not allow that to happen,” Al Mazrouei said.
In remarks on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Exhibition and Conference «ADIPEC 2018», the OPEC chief said: “Obviously there will be a requirement to move from increasing production to reducing production,” pointing that the UAE would support any OPEC decision to balance the market in December.
“Oil production is above expectations, and Opec+ needs to change its strategy,” he noted, adding that oil market fundamentals “are still reasonable”.
On the other hand, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that no emergency action was necessary to stem the decline in oil prices.
“The market is quite volatile today. We remember that the oil price was sharply rising in the same way, now it is going down. We have to look into long-term development, into how the price will be stabilized,” he told reporters on the sideline of an international conference in Singapore.
“It’s not right for market participants to react to any one-off fluctuations,” he added.
