RIYADH — Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that OPEC + is playing a leading role in facing the challenges of global energy markets. He said the simultaneous decision to cut oil supply by the Kingdom and Russia shows the strength of cooperation between the two countries, he said while speaking at the 8th OPEC International seminar in Vienna on Wednesday.

Prince Abdulaziz said OPEC+ would do whatever necessary to support the market. On Monday, Saudi Arabia said it would extend the 1-million-barrel-per-day production cut it had initially flagged for July into August, while Russia announced a 500,000 barrel-per-day decline in exports next month. The total production cuts currently amount to more than 5 million barrels per day, or the equivalent of 5 percent of the total global oil production.

The minister said that Saudi Arabia is no longer playing the role of a heavyweight producer, but rather OPEC + plays this role. He emphasized that the Russian export cut was a voluntary decision and not imposed on them. “Russia’s oil cut is meaningful because it affects exports,” he said.

Some are wondering about Saudi Arabia being forced to make a voluntary cut in production. “My answer is very simple,” the minister said, and continued: “We had to do that because there was another, more urgent demand from the market, or another, more necessary expectation that OPEC + should act.”

“If we want to be fair to everyone and if we want everyone to work together, we have to make sure that they maintain their focus on the most important topics and on long-term issues. Deviating attention to another issue will lead to imbalances, and that is why we chose to take this job on provisional basis,” he said while noting that the data and reviews of the International Energy Agency lead to market imbalance.

He said: “This experiment, unlike what you hear in some outlets, was not our first, and I would mention that in June 2020 we ourselves, along with our friends such as United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman, made a voluntary contribution for a month, and we made a voluntary reduction that began in February 2021 and lasted for three months, and then we made by gradually easing this reduction until July 2021.

“I ask you where we would have been today had it not been taken these steps at the time. I have reassured the market that there is a necessity for this position,” he added.

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