OPEC+ ‘only a phone call away’ if markets need balancing – UAE minister

OPEC+ ‘only a phone call away’ if markets need balancing – UAE minister

ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates' energy minister said on Monday that OPEC+ was always willing to balance crude oil markets if needed, and that if consumers require its help, 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 U.S. 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.

Energy ministers and CEOs of top oil companies have meanwhile gathered in Abu Dhabi to discuss investment in oil and gas, crude markets, energy prices and economic growth at a