Saudi Energy Minister: using emergency stocks may be 'painful'

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud [Ian Forsyth/Getty Images]

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said, on Tuesday, that some were using their emergency stocks and using it as a mechanism to manipulate markets when its purpose should be to mitigate any shortages of supply, Reuters reports.

“It is my duty to make clear that losing emergency stocks may be painful in the months to come,” the Minister said, addressing the Future Initiative Investment (FII) conference in Riyadh.

US President, Joe Biden, announced a plan last week to sell off the rest of his release from the nation’s emergency oil reserve by the year’s end, and begin refilling the stockpile as he tries to dampen high gasoline prices ahead of mid-term elections on 8 November.

READ: US President ‘disappointed’ by OPEC+ decision to cut oil production

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