Abu Dhabi: UAE has begun to increase oil production in the third quarter and expects further increases through this month and November in line with the market requirements, according to a tweet by UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazroui.
“The UAE remains committed to working with its Opec and non-Opec partners to ensure balance and stability in the market in the interests of both producers and consumers,” the minister said.
Al Mazroui also said UAE’s production capacity by year-end 2018 will be 3.5 million barrels per day and December’s production will be subject to customer demand.
Member countries of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and non-Opec countries like Russia are increasing production to stabilise prices, which have been rising due to supply concerns following the reimposition of sanctions on Iran by the US as well as falling production by Venezuela.
Brent, the global benchmark for crude oil, is currently trading above $82 per barrel after touching a four-year high of above $86 per barrel earlier in the month. US crude West Texas Intermediate was at $72.46 per barrel at around 11:30 am UAE time on Thursday.
Saudi Arabia, the de facto Opec leader, is also raising its output to offset falling Iranian oil production. Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman told Bloomberg in an interview during the weekend that the kingdom is fulfilling promises to make up for Iranian crude supplies lost to the US sanctions.
“The request that America made to Saudi Arabia and other Opec countries is to be sure that if there is any loss of supply from Iran, we will supply that,” he said in the interview. “And that happened. We export as much as two barrels for any barrel that disappeared from Iran recently,” the Crown Prince added. “So we did our job and more.”
