Exclusive: Saudi, UAE save oil firepower in case of winter supply crisisLONDON/DUBAI, Aug 4 (Reuters) - OPEC leaders Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates stand ready to deliver a "significant increase" in oil output should the world face a severe supply crisis this winter, sources familiar with the thinking of the top Gulf exporters said.
When the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) decided on Wednesday to raise oil output by a mere 100,000 barrels per day (bpd), it broke a taboo with a rare reference to the group's spare production capacity.
The statement referred to "the severely limited availability" of spare capacity, saying that meant it needed to kept it in reserve for "severe supply disruptions".
At first glance, that reads as an acknowledgement that OPEC’s leader Saudi Arabia has almost no room to raise output, as mentioned by French President Emmanuel Macron in a conversation with U.S. President Joe Biden last month.
Three sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Saudi Arabia and the UAE could pump "significantly more", but would only do so if the supply crisis worsened.
"With possibly no gas in Europe this winter, with a potential price cap on Russian oil sales in the New Year, we can’t be throwing every barrel on the market at the moment," one of the sources said...............
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exclusive-saudi-uae-save-oil-firepower-case-winter-supply-crisis-2022-08-04/
