Opec ministers might discuss output quota levels when they meet in Vienna in three weeks, Suhail Al Mazrouei, the Minister of Energy, said on Thursday.
Since last year, the oil producers group’s policy was to keep the official production quotas for its members unchanged, while leading members such as Saudi Arabia have been producing at record levels. That is despite Brent crude trading at about half last year’s high of about US$110 a barrel.
Asked about the agenda for the upcoming meeting of Opec ministers, Mr Mazrouei said the group could discuss the quota levels and other measures.
“We as a group will discuss everything candidly and do whatever we can to contribute to the stability of the market,” he said at the Adipec conference in Abu Dhabi. “We are always happy to agree on what is the contribution from the group because that is what is important.”
Echoing comments this week from Abdalla El-Badri, Opec’s secretary general, Mr Al Mazrouei added: “We cannot do this alone, and it is evident that everyone has to do his share.” He was apparently referring to non-Opec producers, including Russia and Mexico, with which Opec has held discussions this year about potential action.
Mr Al Mazrouei said the UAE’s policy was not to target any specific price for oil but to aim for market stability.
“We are not targeting a price, we are targeting stability of price. We don’t want crazy prices that are a risk to the world economy,” he said. “We are hopeful that next year will be a year of [price] correction, but for that to happen we need everyone to do his part.”
The Opec secretariat yesterday forecast output from non-Opec producers would fall next year for the first time since 2007.
Opec said the producer group last month pumped 31.38 million barrels per day, down 256,000 bpd from September.
Most forecasters still expect a global oil supply overhang to persist for months, as the slowing world economy means that supply will outpace demand despite oil production cuts. The slowdown in oilfield investment this year – which Mr Mazrouei estimated at US$130 billion – will take some time to result in lower output.
But the UAE is among those major oil producers which have continued to invest in major projects for future production, and is on track with its programme to raise production from last year’s average of about 2.7 million bpd to 3.5 million bpd by the end of 2017.
“The UAE is continuing to invest when many of the companies are cancelling their projects,” said Mr Al Mazrouei.
“We will introduce that production to the market when there is a need for it to stabilise the market, and that is the role of the bigger players like the United Arab Emirates, like Saudi Arabia and others. This is the buffer that we always build to enable that balance to happen.”
amcauley@thenational.ae
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