Saudi Arabia and the UAE are considered the only two countries in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with additional capacity to boost global deliveries that could drive prices down.
The two top OPEC oil producers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, can hardly increase oil production, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday as he was told by the UAE president.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are considered the only two countries in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with additional capacity to boost global deliveries that could drive prices down.
“I had a call with MBZ,” Macron was heard telling US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 summit, using shorthand for UAE leader Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. “He told me two things. I’m at max, max (production capacity). That’s what he claims.”
“And then they said (the) Saudis can raise 150 (thousand barrels per day). Maybe a little bit more, but they don’t have big capacity before six months’ time,” Macron said.
The UAE’s top energy official said in a statement late Monday that his country was producing its prescribed OPEC+ quota of 3.168 million barrels per day (bpd).
“In light of recent media reports, I would like to clarify that the UAE is producing close to our maximum production capacity based on its current OPEC+ production baseline,” Energy Minister Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei said.
World oil prices have been rising steadily in recent months due to slackening supply and a pick-up in demand from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. Prices have risen further since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in late February.
Benchmark crude rose on Monday after Reuters reported Macron’s comments. Brent oil prices rose 1.7% above $115 a barrel as the West seeks ways to reduce Russian oil imports to punish Moscow.
Saudi Arabia is producing 10.5 million bpd and has a nameplate capacity of 12.0 million-12.5 million bpd, which would theoretically allow it to increase production by 2 million.
The UAE is producing around 3 million bpd, has a capacity of 3.4 million and is working on increasing it to 4 million bpd.
Europe is looking for ways to replace 2 million bpd of Russian crude and some 2 million bpd of refined products, which Ukraine imported from Moscow before the war.
(Reporting by Reuters TV Writing by Dmitry Zhdnikov Editing by Jan Harvey, Grant McCool and David Goodman)
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