OPEC+ has a role in containing inflation, says Saudi oil minister

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman said the OPEC+ alliance will play a role in “taming and containing” inflationary pressures, just hours after Brent crude surged back above $75 a barrel, Bloomberg reported.

“We also have a role in taming and containing inflation, by making sure that this market doesn’t get out of hand,” he said Wednesday at a conference organized by Bank of America Corp., according to a recording of his remarks obtained by Bloomberg News.

The minister also warned that the increase in oil prices was not clear and could be due to “real supply and demand” or due to “expectations and trajectories that are excessively optimistic,” he said.

He said the group should remain cautious because the oil market wasn’t out of the “doldrums” created by the coronavirus pandemic. He also warned traders against conflating caution with inaction, Bloomberg said.

“We have to be cautious. But caution doesn’t mean we don’t have to do something,” he told the conference. “It means we have to ensure that we don’t make any missteps here or there.”

Prince Abdul Aziz acknowledged the drop in global oil inventories and better expectations for demand during the second half of this year and into 2022. But he added that OPEC+ “cannot discount any vicious return of COVID cases,” and warned that the potential revival of production from Iran and Venezuela are big uncertainties the group needs to consider.