ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates’ energy minister said on Monday that Opec+ is willing to provide the world with the oil it needs, and that if consumers require more, the alliance of top producers was “only a phone call away”.

Suhail al-Mazrouei told a major industry event in Abu Dhabi that Opec+, which groups the producer bloc with allies including Russia, can always be trusted to balance oil supply and demand. “We are only a phone call away if the requirements are there,” he said.

Opec+ faced one of its biggest clashes with the West after it agreed oil production cuts in October, a decision the US administration called shortsighted. Opec+ producers rallied around top oil exporter Saudi Arabia after the United States accused it of pushing members into the cut.

Read more: Opec+ cut shows widening gulf between Biden and Saudis

The group is expected to hold its next meeting in Vienna on Dec 4, one day before an agreement by the Group of Seven countries to cap Russian oil sales at an enforced low price is due to go into effect.

Investment

Energy ministers and CEOs of top oil companies have meanwhile gathered in Abu Dhabi to discuss investment in oil and gas, crude markets, energy prices and economic growth at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shaken up the global oil trade.

Speaking at the conference on Monday, US energy envoy Amos Hochstein said energy had to be priced to allow for economic growth, adding that more investment is needed in the oil and gas sector.

Investment from the United States and others is not enough, he stressed. “Regardless where you are on energy spectrum, we must all invest and innovate,” he said.

Hochstein said the relationship between the United States and the UAE is “strong, long-standing and enduring”. Reflecting on the spat with OPEC+, he told reporters: People are allowed to have disagreements. Its a lot less drama than people think.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, two of the world’s biggest oil producers, are boosting output and refining, and working on clean hydrogen, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Monday.

“We and the UAE are going to be the exemplary producers,” he said.

The UAE is releasing its first revision of its energy plan in 2023, which will increase its green targets, Mazrouei said.

Prices fall

Meanwhile, oil prices fell on Monday after weaker than expected factory activity data out of China and on concerns that the country’s widening Covid-19 curbs will curtail demand.

Brent crude futures dropped 69 cents, or 0.7 per cent, to $95.08 a barrel by 1240 GMT, extending Friday’s 1.2pc decline. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 84 cents, or 0.9pc, at $87.06 after losing 1.3pc on Friday.

Both benchmarks, however, are on track for their first monthly gains since May.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2022