Dubai World Govt Summit 2022: Saudi energy minister says oil supply disruptions by attacks to impact economies

The Saudi energy minister on Tuesday warned that disruption to oil supplies from terror attacks will impact regional and global economies.

The minister also warned that 'unaffordability' could lead to stagnation of the world economy.

While speaking at the World Government Summit on Tuesday, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy, said the world is not paying enough attention to the issue of terror attacks on energy facilities.

“We made a political statement last week that we are no longer responsible for security of oil supply. But there is not enough attendance to this issue. If this energy security is impacted, this will impact well-being of our people and economy. It will also impact the regional and world economy. We’re into a jittery period, defined by unfortunate events where people are focused on regional issues without looking comprehensively at global concerns,” Al Saud said during a panel discussion which was also attended by Suhail bin Mohamed Al Mazrouei, UAE’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, and Masrour Barzani, prime minister of Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

The Saudi oil minister stated that the oil-producing GCC region has delivered their side of the story and now it is the other countries which need to deliver otherwise the energy supply will be disrupted.

Al Saudi credited Opec+ for the sustainable supply of energy over the past many decades. “If it was not for Opec+, we would not be celebrating sustainable energy markets where they stand today. With the kind of (terror and war) events taking place today, volatility would have been even worse if Opec+ didn’t exist and we didn’t attend to market’s needs.”

Barzani warned that the level of danger in the Middle East has increased due to deterioration of security in other parts of the world.

“When people feel poor, they are more likely behave irrationally. In the past, some people collaborated with terror organizations because they feel oppressed, faced injustice and inequality. Countries are also looking at their interests only. An entity or a person can be beneficial for one state and dangerous to the other, therefore, there is no clear definition of terror,” he added.

Barzani added that they support any peace initiatives anywhere in the world. He said the US should understand that they have many friends in the region and this friendship has to be based on equality.

UAE energy minister Al Mazrouei also highlighted that the world needs affordable energy for prosperity because poverty pushes people to join extremist organisations.

“Due to geopolitics, energy security is becoming a priority now. But some countries are forgetting affordability. That’s why Opec tries to maintain order and bring resources to market as much as it can at a pace that is reasonable.”

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He reiterated that there is need to decouple politics from energy.

“I’m worried because we are mixing the two and we could end up where energy affordability becomes an issue and that will lead to poverty and stagnation of world economy. We are trying but we can’t be blamed for every thing. We are doing our best,” the UAE minister added.

waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

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