The UAE said it is ready to increase oil output in line with guidance set by OPEC and allied producers, echoing comments by Saudi Arabia that it will boost supply to meet demand.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are pledging to add barrels amid calls by US President Donald Trump for more oil from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Trump, in an interview on Fox News on Sunday, called on the group to add 2 million barrels of crude supply.
Government-run producer Abu Dhabi National Oil Company “has the ability to increase oil production by several hundred thousand barrels of oil per day, should this be required to help alleviate any potential supply shortage in the market," it said on Tuesday in an emailed statement, World Oil reported.
Adnoc, as the company is known, can pump as much as 3.3 million barrels per day and will increase output capacity to 3.5 million bpd by the end of the year.
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, holds most of the Middle Eastern crude producer’s oil deposits. The UAE pumped 2.89 million bpd in June, 20,000 bpd more than in May, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Crude and condensate exports rose to a nine-month high in June on demand from Japan and China.
Oil prices have gained more than 3% since OPEC and allies agreed on June 22 to raise output to meet production caps set in 2016. Some OPEC members, including Venezuela and Libya, have not been pumping up to their limits, contributing to gains in prices over the past week.
Adnoc has not announced any customer allocations for August. To comply with OPEC’s 2016 agreement to cut output, Adnoc had been supplying customers less oil than they had contracted to buy. Under long-term crude contracts, buyers and sellers generally have leeway to supply or receive about 5-10% more or less oil each month than agreed.
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