The OPEC logo pictured ahead of an informal meeting between members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Algiers, Algeria, September 28, 2016. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
GOA, India, July 21 (Reuters) – Current actions by OPEC+ to support the oil market are sufficient for now, UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said on Friday, and the group is "only a phone call away" if any further steps are needed.
OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, pumps around 40% of the world's crude. The group has been limiting supply since late 2022 to bolster the market.
"What we are doing is sufficient as we say today," the UAE minister told Reuters in Goa, India, where he is attending G20 energy ministerial meetings.
"But we are constantly meeting and if there is a requirement to do anything else then during those meetings, we will pick it up. We are always a phone call away from each other."
At its last policy meeting in June, OPEC+ agreed on a broad deal to limit supply into 2024 and Saudi Arabia pledged a voluntary production cut for July that it has since extended to include August.
Oil prices have found some support from evidence of tightening supplies and economic stimulus in slow-recovering China, with Brent crude trading above $80 a barrel on Friday, up from near $71 in late June.
The next OPEC+ policy meeting is not until November, although a panel of key ministers, the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, holds an online meeting on Aug. 4 to review the market.
The UAE minister said he was not worried about oil demand and described limited investment as the "biggest challenge."
"We know how expensive it is to invest, and no-one other than (a) few countries are investing and increasing their capacity," he said.
The UAE is among the few OPEC members with sizeable unused oil production capacity. At the OPEC+ meeting in June it received a higher production target for 2024 while a number of others had theirs reduced.
A mechanism for monitoring Russian output will be further developed, the minister added, with OPEC's headquarters.
Reporting by Nidhi Verma, writing by Alex Lawler; Editing by Jason Neely, Louise Heavens, Conor Humphries and Paul Simao
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Nidhi Verma is an award-winning journalist working with Reuters. Presently, she is working as Team Leader-Energy in India. She has more than two decades of experience in covering India and global energy sector. Her stories show a new dimension of the energy sector, the nuances of the oil trade, the role of geopolitics and the diplomatic efforts that a country makes to mitigate the impact of external shocks.
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UAE says current OPEC+ actions sufficient for now – Reuters
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