DUBAI —
OPEC+ ministers will look to salvage their
oil output talks on Monday after clashing last week when the
United Arab Emirates balked at a proposed eight-month extension to output curbs.
اضافة اعلان
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman on Sunday
called for "compromise and rationality" to secure a deal after two
days of failed discussions last week.
They center on raising output from August, partly to help
cool oil prices trading at 2-1/2 year highs, with Brent around $76 on Monday.
Those prices are prompting concerns about inflation
derailing a global recovery from the pandemic.
OPEC+ agreed record output cuts of almost 10 million barrels
per day (bpd) last year as the pandemic hit. They have been gradually relaxed
and stand at about 5.8 million bpd.
The UAE, according to sources, on Friday went along with
Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ members on a proposal to raise output in stages by
about 2 million bpd from August to December but rejected extending remaining
cuts to the end of 2022 from a current end date of April.
On Monday two OPEC+ sources said there had been no progress
in resolving the matter ahead of a meeting scheduled to begin at 1300 GMT. As
negotiations continued, the meeting had yet to begin by 1450 GMT, sources said.
The UAE is upset about the baseline from which its
production cuts are being calculated and wants it raised. Abu Dhabi has
invested billions of dollars to increase its production capacity and says its
baseline was set too low when OPEC+ originally forged their pact.
It has also said it was not alone in requesting a higher
baseline as others, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait and Nigeria, had
requested and received new ones since the deal was first agreed last year.
Decisions in OPEC+, which groups the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with Russia and other big producers, must be
unanimous.
Potential outcomes, OPEC+ sources said, include raising
output from August, or raising output from August and extending the remaining
cuts with a new higher baseline figure for the UAE.
OPEC+ could also go ahead with the deal as is until April
2022 and discuss a new UAE baseline as part of a new deal, the sources said.
The two nations had built a regional alliance, combining
financial and military muscle to fight a conflict in Yemen and project power
elsewhere. But the UAE has withdrawn from action in Yemen, while Saudi Arabia
has sought to challenge the UAE's dominance as the region's business and
tourism hub.
The UAE in August 2020 also agreed to normalize relations
with Israel, while Saudi Arabia has no official diplomatic relations with
Israel.
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