Riyadh defends OPEC+ decisions, which “does not get involved in policies or alliances”

By: MRT Desk

Published on:

Riyadh defends OPEC+ decisions, which "does not get involved in policies or alliances"

The Saudi Energy Minister, Abdelaziz bin Salman, today defended the decisions of OPEC+ to reduce production by two million barrels per day, as “they aim to preserve the market”, and said that this organization “does not get into policies or alliances”.

“OPEC+ operates according to a purely economic mechanism (…) what we are concerned about is reducing market fluctuations whenever possible to boost the sector and investment opportunities,” the Saudi minister told a panel at a conference in Riyadh on the Saudi budget.

He also said that “the pressures to which OPEC+ has been subjected in recent months” to increase production in order to lower prices “will not change its orientation and working method.”

That alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia and made up of the 23 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and ten external allies, “has been able to successfully overcome all geopolitical challenges and the covid-19 pandemic,” Bin Salman added.

OPEC+ decided last week to continue applying in 2023 the cut in the production of petroleum by two million barrels a day, agreed in October, despite pressure from the United States and consumers to increase production.

The members of the alliance decided to convene their next regular conference on June 4, 2023, although they stressed that the internal monitoring committee of the JMMC alliance will meet every two months and may convene an extraordinary conference if the market situation requires it.

In this context, they said they were ready “to meet at any time and to take immediate additional measures if necessary.”

The Saudi minister described as “miracle” the result of the decisions taken by OPEC+ in the last two years to stabilize the market, and considered that “it has been possible thanks to the consensus among the members” of the alliance.

“World events have demonstrated the validity of OPEC+ decisions,” Bin Salman stressed, stressing that “in OPEC+ we seek to be market regulators, as happens in the case of central banks.”

Leave a Comment