There are no signs of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) meeting before September but the group remained ready to meet any real demand for its oil, UAE Oil Minister Mohammed bin Dhaen Al Hamli said yesterday.
"We are sure the oil market is adequately supplied," said Al Hamli on the sidelines of an energy event in the Qatari capital. "We are ready to supply more oil when the market needs it," he said, when asked if there may be a need for Opec to boost output later in the year to meet rising seasonal demand.
He added there were "at this moment no indications" the group intended to meet ahead of schedule.
Opec is next scheduled to meet in September to decide upon output policy.
Hamli said healthy global oil inventories were proof that supplies were adequate.
However, Qatar's Oil Minister Abdullah Al Attiyah said there is nothing Opec can do to reduce record oil prices, so there is no need for the organisation to hold an emergency meeting before September.
"We don't need to meet before September because we have nothing to do before September," he said. "The oil price is out of our control."
Attiyah said oil supplies were sufficient and there was no demand from refiners for more supplies.
An Opec source said on Friday the producer group might consult on whether it needs to boost oil output before a scheduled meeting in September should crude oil prices keep rising.
Attiyah said high oil prices were due to speculation and political tensions in some producing countries, such as Nigeria. Asked if an Opec supply boost would send a signal to the market that might help ease rising crude oil prices, Attiyah said: "I don't think this is a reason to meet. We are not trading in psychological markets – there is no shortage in supplies."
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