Saudi Defends Current OPEC Output Targets

Decisions on oil output taken by OPEC+ countries reflect consensus in the group and Saudi Arabia judges that its current output policy - that it won't raise production this year - is correct, its foreign minister said.

• "We always say that we are committed to a stable market... (the minister of energy) feels the market doesn't need any production changes until the end of the year," Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told reporters in London.
• "All decisions in OPEC and OPEC+ are made through very extensive dialogue between all the partners... Every statement I see that is made on the record from all of the partners in OPEC+ reflects that consensus," he added.
• It comes after Wall Street Journal headlines on Friday that suggested the UAE was looking to leave OPEC to allow it to pump more crude volumes onto the market. UAE officials quickly disputed the claims, spurring crude markets to recover the losses from the headlines.