UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said that his country is committed to the OPEC Plus agreement and its current monthly production control mechanism.

The Emirati minister added in a tweet that his country believes in the value that OPEC Plus provides to the oil markets.

The Emirati minister's statements came hours after the UAE ambassador in Washington told CNN that his country prefers to increase oil production and will encourage OPEC to consider increasing supply.

The Wall Street Journal had quoted an informed source that the UAE had changed its position on increasing oil production under pressure from the United States.

The Wall Street Journal, citing sources in OPEC, added that the change in the UAE's position on the volume of oil production was surprising, and was not discussed within OPEC.

The newspaper quoted a Saudi official as saying that the UAE's position on increasing oil production was not coordinated with Saudi Arabia, and it was not reported to OPEC.

Meanwhile, an informed Emirati source told Reuters today, Thursday, that the UAE will not act unilaterally and raise oil production.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that the UAE is still committed to the OPEC Plus alliance, and that the Ministry of Energy is solely responsible for the country's oil policies.


OPEC Plus Resistance

The OPEC Plus group has so far resisted calls from the United States and its allies to increase production even as oil prices have risen to more than $120 a


barrel.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and to a lesser extent Kuwait and Iraq, are the only OPEC countries capable of pumping more oil.

These countries have a reserve capacity estimated at between 2.5 million and 3 million barrels per day.

However, the injection of these additional quantities will not compensate for the decline in Russian exports, according to Agence France-Presse.

On Tuesday, German Energy Minister Robert Heck made an urgent appeal to the OPEC group to increase production in order to curb the rise in prices.

After Al-Otaiba's statements, global oil prices fell yesterday, Wednesday, by the largest percentage since the first days of the Covid-19 pandemic nearly two years ago.

And US crude lost 12.5% ​​in the previous session, its largest daily decline since last November.

But oil prices returned and recovered today, Thursday, after the United Arab Emirates said that it is committed to the OPEC Plus agreement.

US West Texas Intermediate crude contracts jumped more than $3 a barrel shortly after the start of trading, and it was trading up $1.53 a barrel, or 1.4 percent, at $110.23 a barrel, before continuing its gains journey.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude rose again more than 5% to reach $116.80 in morning trading.