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DUBAI, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates' energy minister does not expect another big increase in shale oil production and believes oil price rises in the future will be "on a rational basis", he told Sky News Arabia TV in an interview broadcast on Tuesday.
Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazrouei also said that market share was important for OPEC but managing the market was more important and that the decline in investments in future oil projects was worrying.
"The United Arab Emirates' oil investments did not stop with the oil price decline and we will not adjust our long-term contracts to sell crude after reducing production," he said, according to the Sky News website.
OPEC agreed last week to reduce output by around 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) beginning in January in a bid to reduce global oversupply and prop up oil prices.
It hopes non-OPEC countries will contribute another 600,000 bpd to the cut. Russia has said it will reduce output by around 300,000 bpd.
Mazrouei said that Iran is serious about committing to OPEC output deal but a rise in Iran's oil production will need big investment and take a long time.
He said that Russia's agreement to join OPEC in a global pact to limit supplies would encourage many oil producers to take part in the reduction decision.
He also said he did not expect any big increase in global oil output in the first half of 2017.
The UAE will attend the non-OPEC oil producers' meeting with OPEC in Vienna on Dec. 10, Mazrousei said. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Writing by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Ruth Pitchford, Greg Mahlich)
© Reuters News 2016
