The United Arab Emirates(UAE) is pulling back from new pressure from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, call for further voluntary production reductions.
The Arab country declared that it will not agree to make any additional cut at this time, as per the country’s energy minister.
The UAE is “doing sufficient” to contribute to the OPEC+ supply limitations, Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told journalists in Vienna.
He observed the significant difference between the nation’s current output observed at 3.07 million barrels a day, MMbpd last month, based on a Bloomberg survey — and its full capacity of 4 MMbpd.
Saudi Arabia surprised the oil market last month by declaring an extra 1 million barrels a day production reduction, in addition to the supply limitations the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies announced in previous months.
On Monday, the kingdom extended that reduction into August and was followed by Russia, which promised to decrease exports by 500,000 bbl a day in that month.
“The voluntary reduction will benefit the market,” Mazrouei said. Other countries “generously participate voluntarily to meet the market needs. In my assessment, this is sufficient.”
Weaker demand in China has capped crude prices near $76 a bbl, below the level that the International Monetary Fund believes Saudi Arabia and several other OPEC members need to cover their budgets. The extra voluntary production cuts announced by Riyadh and Moscow have so far had little effect on boosting prices.
The minister spoke on the sidelines of an OPEC conference in Vienna.
The OPEC has barred Bloomberg, Reuters, and the Wall Street Journal from attending, the second time in as many months that the group has excluded reporters from those organizations from its meetings without providing an explanation