UAE’s Minister of Energy Suheil al-Mazrouei has said that oil supplies have not been interrupted and that OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers are capable of filling any market gap.
“What happened during the fourth quarter was not positive in the market,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday.
“The UAE believes there is still time to study demand and supply,” he said.
The minister added that there was no need to relax a deal by the OPEC+ group of oil exporting countries to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day to support prices.
He spoke on the sidelines of a ministerial panel meeting of top OPEC and non-member oil producers in Jeddah.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the recent attacks on Saudi energy assets threaten uninterrupted supplies of energy to the world and put a global economy that is already facing headwinds at further risk, although it has not affected the Kingdom’s supplies.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE stressed that all oil producers should comply with their respective production quotas, adding that oil outputs are rising and supplies are plenty.
"Although multilateral institutions have moderated their forecasts of world growth, the levels are still reasonably healthy with the US leading a steady performance while the Chinese economy started the year fairly strongly,” Falih said.
For his part, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo said Saudi Arabia was exerting a lot of efforts for the benefit of all parties. “Success would not have been achievable without the Saudi leadership,” he said.
The OPEC chief said throughout its history, the Organization has overcome obstacles, which appeared insurmountable at the time.
"Some of these challenges in the past were much more daunting than any uncertainties in our current times. Yet we persevered. And in doing so, we excelled and attained even greater heights than anyone could have imagined,” Barkindo said.
For his part, Venezuela’s oil minister, Manuel Quevedo, warned that events happening in his country could have repercussions on the stability of the global market.
