Oil pares drop after UAE officials say no plans to leave OPEC
BNN Bloomberg
Brent oil pared a sharp drop as UAE officials said there was no plan to leave the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The global benchmark had retreated as much as 2.8 per cent, though later pared some of those losses to trade near US$84 a barrel. The officials were responding to a Wall Street Journal report that a growing rift with Saudi Arabia meant it is having internal discussions about quitting the alliance.
The UAE has said publicly and privately it is sticking to the current OPEC output deal for at least this year. If the UAE were to quit the grouping, it would risk a political fallout not just with Saudi Arabia, one of its biggest trading partners, but with other Gulf allies such as Kuwait and Iraq.
UAE officials have for some years been contemplating what alliances best suit its long-term interests, as the country seeks to monetize recent expansion in its production capacity. In a previous OPEC+ dispute with Saudi Arabia, the group’s policy decision was held up for weeks, though in the end a compromise was found.
