Russia will remain a member of OPEC+, despite the geopolitical crisis, no one can fully replace the volume of its oil production in the market today. This was stated by Suheil Al-Mazroui, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure of the UAE, speaking at the Global Energy Forum in Dubai.
"We in OPEC always believe that what concerns oil production should always stay out of politics. We have two countries under sanctions, and we've done everything we can to make sure they can produce. As far as OPEC+ is concerned, it will remain. Russia is an important member of the alliance. And politics aside, we don't see anyone replacing Russia in the oil market – which is 10 million barrels per day (bpd) – in full," he said.
Discussions about a possible embargo on Russian oil exports began after Russia launched a military special operation on February 24, 2022, necessary to denationalize and demilitarize Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin explained earlier.
Since the start of the military operation, the US, the EU, Britain and other countries that joined them have imposed several packages of sanctions against the Russian economy, including personal sanctions. The toughest of these touched the reserves of the Central Bank of Russia and the activity of the largest Russian banks. Financial and technological sanctions were introduced against the oil and gas sector, which prohibit the supply of components and technology for oil exploration, production and refining in Russia. In addition, European companies refuse to buy Russian oil on sanctions and moral grounds. This has caused the price of Urals oil to drop by $30 per barrel or more against Brent.
Al-Mazroui stressed that the basis of the crisis the world now faces because of geopolitics was laid many years ago. "We always said we needed to invest more in oil and gas production, we always advocated for resource diversification," he recalled. Today, he said, to avoid shortages, the world will have to tap into "all available resources."
Because of harsh climate policies that have forced oil producers to stop investing in field development, OPEC+ countries have lost more than 1 million bpd of production in the past year alone, he said. "And it remains to be seen how much we will lose in the future," he added. Al-Mazroui estimated that countries that previously underinvested in resource exploration could lose 10-15% of production in the coming years. The world is losing five to eight million b/d of oil supply each year in the face of growing demand due to underinvestment, he stated.
The head of the UAE Ministry of Energy also believes it is necessary to use all diplomatic means to resolve the conflict in Ukraine peacefully as soon as possible, "and not by increasing the supply of weapons in any case".
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Elena Afonina / TASS
Based on materials from TASS