Page 11 - FSUOGM Week 47 2022

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

Saudi, UAE ministers deny talks of

output increase

MIDDLE EAST DISCUSSIONS and agreements on OPEC+ oil Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz
production cuts hit the headlines over the past bin Salman has been reported as denying recent
Leaders of Saudi month and these levelled out with an agreement reports stating that the Kingdom is currently
Arabia, UAE, Iraq, by the group on October 5 to cut production by discussing an increase in output of 500,000 bpd
Kuwait, Oman, 2mn barrels per day (bpd). This agreement was with other OPEC+ producers.
Bahrain and Algeria set to stand until the end of 2023. The minister added that it is no secret that
all lined up behind Leaders of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq, Kuwait, OPEC+ does not discuss any decisions before its
this agreement, with Oman, Bahrain and Algeria all lined up behind meetings, Saudi Press Agency reported.
some adding that it this agreement, with some adding that it was “a Prince Abdulaziz repeated that the cartel’s
was “a purely technical purely technical response based on purely eco- decision to cut production by 2mn bpd will stand
response based on nomic considerations”. The point about this is till the end of 2023. He said: “If there is a need to
purely economic that the statement is a counter to a comment take further measures to reduce production to
considerations”. from the US that the cut would boost Russia’s restore balance between supply and demand, we
foreign earnings and suggested that it had been are always ready to intervene.”
engineered for “political reasons” by Saudi Ara- Meanwhile, UAE Minister of Energy and
bia, hinting at support for Moscow in its invasion Infrastructure Suhail Mohamed Al-Mazrouei
of Ukraine. denied that his country is “engaging in any dis-
The issue arose at the recent COP27 confer- cussion with other OPEC+ members to change
ence in Egypt where OPEC+ members lined the last agreement which is valid until the end of
up to endorse the steep cut to its output target 2023. We remain committed to the OPEC+ aim
agreed earlier in the month. to balance the oil market and will support any
The issue has rumbled on, however, and decision to achieve that goal.” ™

Polish court annuls PLN29bn fine

slapped on Gazprom by market regulator

POLAND POLAND’S Consumer and Competition President Tomasz Chrostny said in a statement.
Protection Court annulled on November 21 a UOKiK issued the fine, saying at the time
The fine relates to the PLN29bn (€6.16bn) fine slapped on Gazprom that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would “threaten
Nord Stream 2 project. by Polish market regulator UOKiK for putting the continuity of natural gas supplies to Poland”
together a consortium to build Nord Stream 2. and increase “the economic dependence on the
The market regulator fined the Russian Russian gas – not only in the case of Poland but
company in 2020 after Gazprom and its Nord also of other European states.”
Stream 2 partners - Germany's Uniper and Nord Stream 2 ventured into the spotlight
Wintershall, Royal Dutch Shell, Austria's OMV after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, as
and France's Engie – agreed on joint work on the European Union scrambled to find a strong
the controversial pipeline without creating a response to the attack amidst fears that the bloc’s
joint venture, to which UOKiK had objected dependence on Russian gas – particularly big in
earlier. Germany’s case – would be leveraged by the
The court annulled the fine on the grounds Kremlin.
that a joint venture was not formally created, Nord Stream 2 was eventually suspended by
therefore the fine was imposed outside of Germany two days before the war in reaction to
UOKiK’s merit. Russia’s recognition of the breakaway republics
UOKiK said that it would appeal against the of Donetsk and Luhansk.
court’s decision, which it called “baffling.” In the months following the outbreak of the
“The Court has held that, notwithstanding war, Russia’s gas-linked political leverage over
evidence gathered in the case and consequences Europe has dwindled dramatically as the EU has
for [gas market] competition situation, deci- sought supplies from elsewhere and pushed for
sive was the assessment of whether a formal boosting storage and efficient use of the com-
joint venture has been established,” UOKiK’s modity. ™

Week 47 25•November•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11