Saudi Arabia Calls for Settlement over OPEC+ Deal after UAE Opposition

The Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman rejected On Sunday the opposition of the United Arab Emirates to a proposed OPEC+ agreement and called for "compromise and rationality" to secure an agreement.

OPEC + voted on Friday to increase production by about two million barrels per day from August to December 2021 and to extend the remaining cuts until the end of 2022, but the objections of the UAE prevented the agreement.

The confrontation may delay plans to pump more oil until the end of the year to calm oil prices, which rose to their highest levels in two and a half years.

Last year, OPEC+ agreed  to cut production by about 10 million bpd from May 2020, with plans to phase out the restrictions by the end of April 2022. The cuts now amount to about 5.8 million bpd per day, in response to the drop in oil demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.