Six months after leaving OPEC, the United Arab Emirates on Monday began hosting ADIPEC, one of the world's largest energy conferences, where it told an audience of industry executives it had increased oil exports in spite of the Iran war.
The UAE was for 59 years a pivotal member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. It said in April it would leave the group, weeks into the US-Israeli war with Iran. The war, which began at the end of February, has led to severe disruption of energy supplies and has driven oil prices higher.
UAE energy minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said at ADIPEC on Monday his country's exports on occasions had been better than before the war without giving precise details.
The UAE will protect its energy infrastructure and invest in new export routes, he told ADIPEC. The conference continues in Abu Dhabi until Thursday.
OPEC figures compiled from secondary sources support the comments. In September, the UAE pumped 3.917 million barrels per day of crude, up 15% from February, the figures show.
The September figure is 470,000 bpd more than the OPEC+ quota that would have applied to the UAE in May had it not left OPEC and the wider OPEC+ as of May 1. The remaining regional members of OPEC+, excluding Oman, pumped below theirs.
IEA FIGURES PUT UAE OUTPUT HIGHER
The International Energy Agency has assessed UAE output higher still. It said that for September it expected UAE production to have been 4.4 million bpd.
Taking crude oil, condensate and other liquids into account, the UAE pumped a record 5.3 million bpd in September, the IEA said last month.
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company disputes the data quoted by Reuters.
Reuters sought comment from the state oil company on the OPEC and IEA output figures, on export data showing UAE shipments were higher than those of Saudi Arabia in August, and on the suggestion that the UAE had benefited from leaving OPEC.
"We have advised Reuters that the data in this story is wrong and this report is inaccurate," a spokesperson for ADNOC said. ADNOC did not specify what was inaccurate in the data or report, nor did it provide alternative data.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and authorities from Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter and leading member of OPEC, did not reply to a request for comment.
UAE WELL-PLACED TO MEET DEMAND FOR OIL
International oil prices have reached multiyear highs as the disruption caused by the Iran war has reduced supplies.
They fell on Monday after talks between Iranian and Qatari officials lifted expectations of peace talks and a day after OPEC+ left output targets steady.
Analysts say overall supplies are tight, especially of some refined products, and that strategic inventories governments have drawn upon need to be refilled.
Two people with knowledge of oil policy in the UAE said being freed from OPEC production constraints had put the UAE in a good position to meet demand.
Western energy analysts also said the UAE had felt able to act as boldly as required.
"The UAE has come out ahead and leaving OPEC clearly helped," Rystad Energy analyst Rahul Choudhary said, referring to how the country fared relative to regional countries on navigating the war.
Abu Dhabi rapidly expanded ship-to-ship transfers to move crude beyond the Strait of Hormuz.
"The UAE has been producing above pre-war levels since June," said Richard Bronze of Energy Aspects. "I see this mainly as a result of it being willing and able to take risks to restart exports earlier than other regional producers rather than a function of the decision to leave OPEC."
(Reuters)
