Oil prices skyrocketed to a three-year high earlier this week as the Organisation for Petroleum Exploring Countries and its partners (OPEC+) abandoned a meeting, which means a deal to boost production has not been reached, media reports said. Several days of negotiations failed to resolve a dispute between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
A Video conference was held last week between the 13 members of OPEC, followed by a technical meeting and discussions between the 23 members of OPEC+.
OPEC started the discussion with its allies last week to establish an output policy for the remainder of the year. Initially, the participants in the meeting decided to vote on a proposal that would have returned 400,000 barrels per day to the market each month from August through December.
This would have resulted in an additional 2 million bpd by 2021, however, the UAE rejected the proposal. Discussions were supposed to resume this week but were ultimately called off.
“The date of the next meeting will be decided in due course,” OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said in a statement.
Emirati Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei voiced concerns over the Saudi-led production restraints.
“Everyone sacrificed but, unfortunately, the UAE sacrificed the most, making one-third of our production idle for two years,” he told the media.