Oil producers reach deal on output, ending UAE-Saudi standoff

The close Gulf allies have been publicly at odds over how quickly to increase output amid global pandemic recovery.

The United Arab Emirates energy minister has said the world’s leading oil producers have reached a “full agreement” to modestly boost output from August, ending a standoff that laid bare a growing economic rivalry between the oil-rich nation and its wealthy neighbour Saudi Arabia. The announcement on Sunday signalled a breakthrough in an impasse over how OPEC+, a 23-member grouping of the world’s leading oil producers and allies, would proceed after limiting output last year as oil prices plummeted amid the coronavirus pandemic. As the pandemic battered global consumption, transport and supply chains, OPEC+ last year decided to withdraw 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) from the market and to gradually restore supplies by the end of April 2022.