Give Opec+ a phone call if world needs more oil: UAE minister

The United Arab Emirates’ energy minister said on Monday that Opec+ is willing to provide the world with the oil it needs, and that if consumers require more, the alliance of top producers was “only a phone call away”. Suhail al-Mazrouei told a major industry event in Abu Dhabi that Opec+, which groups the producer bloc with allies including Russia, can always be trusted to balance oil supply and demand. “We are only a phone call away if the requirements are there,” he said. Opec+ faced one of its biggest clashes with the West after it agreed oil production cuts in October, a decision the US administration called shortsighted. Opec+ producers rallied around top oil exporter Saudi Arabia after the United States accused it of pushing members into the cut. The group is expected to hold its next meeting in Vienna on Dec 4, one day before an agreement by the Group of Seven countries to cap Russian oil sales at an enforced low price is due to go into effect.