Russia Vital for OPEC+ Agreement Success - Secretary General

Russia’s membership of OPEC+ is vital for the success of the group’s agreement according to OPEC’s new secretary general Haitham al-Ghais in an interview with Kuwaits Alrai newspaper released Sunday.

• He said OPEC is not in competition with Russia.
• AL-Ghais told Alrai that "OPEC doesn't control oil prices, but it practices what is called tuning the markets in terms of supply and demand," describing the current state of the oil market as "very volatile and turbulent."
• "As for me, I still stress that the recent rise in oil prices is not only related to the developments between Russia and Ukraine.” he said.
• "All the data confirm that prices began to rise gradually and cumulatively, and before the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian developments, due to the prevailing perception in the markets that there is a shortage of spare production capacity, which has become confined to a few and limited countries," al-Ghais said.
• "In my view, the most important factor will be the continued lack of investments in the field of drilling, exploration and production." - "This will push prices in an upward direction, but we cannot determine the level they will reach." he said.