OPEC+ will probably stick with oil-production strategy, says UAE

The OPEC+ group of major oil producers is likely to stick with its plan of raising daily output by 400,000 barrels per month, according to the United Arab Emirates.

The comments from UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei echoed those of his counterpart from Oman and suggest that at least some members of the 23-nation alliance are willing to continue resisting US pressure to pump faster.

“The 400,000 is continuing and that should be enough,” Mazrouei said in an interview in Abu Dhabi, where he’s attending the Adipec oil and gas conference. He spoke after being on a panel with the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and India.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and partners next meet on December 2.

Crude has soared around 60 per cent to more than $80 a barrel this year as economies recover from the coronavirus pandemic and the OPEC+ group of major producers restricts supply. High prices are stoking inflation. President Joe Biden, concerned by gasoline climbing to a seven-year high in the US, is calling on OPEC+ to increase output faster.

Mazrouei said OPEC+ doesn’t need to because the oil market will switch from a supply deficit to surplus early next year.

“All what we know and what all the experts in the world are saying is that we will have a surplus,” he said. “So we need not to panic, we need to be calm.”