Saudi Arabia Wants OPEC+ Agreement That Would Include Russia - Energy Minister

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published May 23, 2022 | 04:40 AM

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd May, 2022) Riyadh hopes for an OPEC+ deal that would include Russia, although it is too early to talk about the details, Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said.

The energy minister told The Financial Times on Sunday that Saudi Arabia was hoping "to work out an agreement with Opec+ . . . which includes Russia," insisting the "world should appreciate the value" of the alliance of producers.

The minister said that it was too early to try to predict the details of the agreement, but said that OPEC+ would increase production "if the demand is there."

He explained that a lack of global refining capacity and taxes are behind the rising prices and said that governments need to encourage the industry to invest more in hydrocarbons.

"This situation needs people to sit together, focus, take out the masquerade and the so-called political correctness," Abdulaziz bin Salman said, pointing out that "for the last three years, the whole world lost around 4mn barrels of refining capacity, 2.

7mn of them just from the beginning of Covid."

Earlier this month, the OPEC+ alliance decided to stick to the oil output cut deal and increase production only by the planned 432,000 barrels per day in June. According to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo, it is not possible for other oil producers in OPEC+ to replace Russian exports of more than 7 million barrels per day.

Western media reported this month that some of the reasons behind Riyadh's refusal to increase production include a worsening of relations with Washington under the administration of US President Joe Biden, as well as Russia's membership in OPEC.

Abdulaziz bin Salman told an energy conference in Bahrain last Monday that a dearth of refining capacity in the United States and elsewhere meant that gasoline and other oil products would remain expensive, even if exporters pumped more crude.