UAE minister calls for new oil production cut deal to stabilise markets

The UAE Minister of Energy and Industry, Suhail Al Mazroui, said yesterday that his country believes that a new agreement to reduce oil production is a necessary step to stabilise the global oil markets.

“OPEC and OPEC+ played an important role in delivering market stability. The UAE Ministry of Energy and Industry firmly believes that a new agreement is essential to support a balanced and less volatile market,” Al Mazroui said on Twitter.

“We are disappointed that no agreement was reached by OPEC+ and the current declaration of cooperation will therefore expire at the end of March 2020,” he added.

The UAE minister pointed out that the UAE has a large production capacity that “will be quickly brought online given the current circumstances”.

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Earlier, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said that it can supply the market with over four million barrels per day (bpd) in April and even increase its production capacity to about five million bpd in another indication that the dispute within the OPEC+ alliance could escalate further.

Since 2017, the UAE has been committed to reducing its oil production within the OPEC+ alliance. However, this commitment will end this month when the OPEC+ agreement expires.

On Friday, OPEC – led by Saudi Arabia – and independent oil producers – led by Russia – failed to reach an agreement to extend the oil production cut agreement until the end of the year.

According to OPEC data from January, the UAE average oil production is three million bpd.

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