Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud speaks during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 10, 2021.
Yves Herman | Reuters
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said on Tuesday that OPEC+ would keep politics out of its decision-making in favor of the “common good” of stabilizing energy prices.
Governments and international organizations around the world have imposed punitive sanctions and severed economic ties with Russia after Ukraine’s invasion, but OPEC – the intergovernmental organization of 13 oil-exporting countries – seems unwilling to take action against Russia, a key partner in the oil industry Ukraine, a member of the broader OPEC+ alliance and a major oil exporter itself.
Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said the organization’s very existence depends on separating its mission to stabilize oil prices from other geopolitical factors, even in the event of a widely condemned invasion.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates earlier this month voted in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution calling on Russia to halt the invasion and withdraw all troops, and Prince Abdulaziz said there were other forums through which the kingdom could discuss its Opinions on Russia’s actions can be expressed in accordance with the global response.
“When it comes to OPEC+, I would take the privilege to say that I’ve been at it for 35 years and I know how we’ve managed to separate our political differences from what we all share in the common good.” , Prince Abdulaziz told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Tuesday.
“That culture seeped into OPEC+, so everybody leaves their politics on the outside door of this building when we come into that OPEC conference room or OPEC building, and that culture was with us.”
The energy minister pointed out that OPEC and OPEC+, formed after agreeing production-cut deals with non-OPEC countries including Russia, had dealt with various countries that had been involved in conflict or aggression throughout their history, including Iraq and Iran.
“The reason we’ve managed to sustain OPEC+ is that we’re discussing these matters, these issues in a totally isolated approach where we’re much more focused on the common good, independent of politics,” he added .
Prince Abdulaziz’s comments were echoed by UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei, who also stressed that the organization had continued its operations while the constituent members were at war, without taking sides. He added that his only mission is to “stabilize the market.”
“Our goal is to calm the market down by trying to get as much volume as possible and if we ask someone to leave then we raise prices,” he said.
“Then we’re doing something that’s against what consumers want, which consumers are screaming for in many countries around the world that probably can’t afford where prices could go.”
Al Mazrouei said countries can unilaterally refuse to buy Russian oil, but if the organization were to blackmail members it would go against its ethos.