UAE oil minister defends OPEC’s decision not to cut production

Al Arabiya ^ | 19 November 2015 | Reuters

[thackney]

United Arab Emirates’ energy minister said on Wednesday he did not regret last year’s OPEC decision not to cut the production ceiling in the face of falling prices.

“I am sure that the decision was right and I am confident that the market will stabilise,” Suhail al-Mazrouei said at an industry conference in Dubai.

“We are not regretting the decision we took, we had no option,” he said. “Yes it’s painful for many producers around the world and we share that pain, but it doesn’t mean that we need to do something that is not sustainable.”

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) made a historic policy shift last November, led by Saudi Arabia and supported by its Gulf allies, by refusing to cut production to prop up prices in a bid to defend market share. The group reconfirmed the strategy at a meeting in June.

But Mazrouei said the decision not to cut production quotas was not just about defending market share.

[thackney]

United Arab Emirates’ energy minister said on Wednesday he did not regret last year’s OPEC decision not to cut the production ceiling in the face of falling prices.

“I am sure that the decision was right and I am confident that the market will stabilise,” Suhail al-Mazrouei said at an industry conference in Dubai.

“We are not regretting the decision we took, we had no option,” he said. “Yes it’s painful for many producers around the world and we share that pain, but it doesn’t mean that we need to do something that is not sustainable.”

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) made a historic policy shift last November, led by Saudi Arabia and supported by its Gulf allies, by refusing to cut production to prop up prices in a bid to defend market share. The group reconfirmed the strategy at a meeting in June.

But Mazrouei said the decision not to cut production quotas was not just about defending market share.

[Paladin2]

"We should not allow the oversupply to distort the market,” he said. "

BS no content speech.

[WellyP]

They are doing this to hold Iran in check and to some degree to limit US production via fracking. Everybody knows that this can not last forever. The price of oil will go up. When it hits $60/65 USD per barrel the US fracking and Canadian tar sands comes back on line, oil stabilizes and gas prices in the US will be about $2.50 a gallon. Russia, Iran and Venezuela need oil well over $100/barrel to break even.

[wtd]

From the posted article:

"But Mazrouei said the decision not to cut production quotas was not just about defending market share."

Perhaps this is stretching it ~ but also consider the following two articles which may suggest the 'other' factor/reason for Mazrouei's confidence in his decision 'not' to cut production quotas ~ the OIC is coordinating and funding the migration (hijrah).

First, from the blog "Gates of Vienna", theBaron asks the following questions:

• GatesofVienna: A Sea Change in the "Refugee" Crisis

  After digesting a lot of information about the “refugee” crisis over the past four months, these are a few of the facts/deductions that seem important, but not often discussed:

• 1. The crisis intensified and accelerated in July and August. At that point the main route of the migration shifted from {Libya ~ Lampedusa} to {Anatolia ~ Greek Islands}.
• 2. The new and more massive flow was possible only because Turkey decided to let the smugglers' boats get through. Before that they (the Turkish police and coast guard) had interdicted most of them. In the middle of the summer they stopped doing that.
• 3. The change in Turkish policy came not long after the first ISIS attack on Turkish soil. My inference from this is that Turkey decided ISIS was no longer a net plus (the Turks had previously been tolerating and even supplying ISIS, with their main target being the Kurds). A decision must have been made at the highest levels to open the floodgates so that the mujahideen would head for Europe, getting them out of Turkey's hair.
• 4. A ferry strike in Greece cut off the flow completely for several days, so that traffic dried up at the border crossing from Slovenia to Austria almost immediately. This tells us that it would be easy to stop the refugees, and proves that they are being deliberately imported.
• 5. Migrants only walk about five to ten kilometers (three to six miles) during the trip from Lesbos to Austria, which is about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) as the crow flies. The rest of the way they are carried by ferry, train, and bus. They pay nothing, but this is a very expensive trip. SOMEONE is paying for it.
• 6. Furthermore, when they arrive in Austria, they pay for purchases with 500 euro notes. SOMEONE gives them that money. They didn't find it lying in the bushes in Serbia, or earn it back home. Not to mention the fact that these poverty-stricken people managed to cough up a hefty amount to pay the smugglers' fees. These are the dots which I am tentatively connecting. What's listed here is much more important than what Angela Merkel says, in my opinion. This is the real back story.

  *****

  Next, Bizzyblog connects some more dots which may relate to the GatesofVienna article above ... suggesting that selection and vetting of migrants is delegated to UN and UN tied organizations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood operating under Saudi guidance/funding:

• bizzyblog: Islamist Organization (OIC) involved in screening of US bound refugees

  Who picks the Syrian refugees that resettle in the U.S.? Homeland Security? No, the United Nations, in concert with a global Islamist group. And they're sending "more than 15,000," not the widely reported 10,000.

  In fact, Washington has no role in selecting the thousands of Syrian refugees coming to your hometown. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is really behind the effort, and he's referred an additional 5,000-plus Syrian nationals here.

  "As of mid-2015, UNHCR has referred more than 15,000 Syrian refugees to the United States," the 71-page (State Department) report adds. "And these individuals are being screened to determine whether they are eligible."

  Of course, that security screening is a joke, as the FBI director and his top counterterrorism aide, as well as the Homeland Security and National Intelligence chiefs, have all testified.

  Note that the State Department cited government organizations which IBD claims have described the screening process, in the vernacular, as "a joke."

  It gets worse, because, as IBD revealed, the the entire enterprise appears to involve far more than incompetence:

  That's not all. The UNHCR is working "hand in hand" with an international Islamist group of 57 Muslim nations ~ the Organization of Islamic Cooperation ~ whose founding charter seeks to propagate "legitimate jihad" and "the norms of Islamic Shari’ah." Saudi-based OIC, in fact, is tied to the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

  "We are delighted to work … with the OIC," said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.

  So it's really the U.N. and radical Islamists who are choosing your new Muslim neighbors.

  While the U.N. calls its project "refugee resettlement," the Islamists call it "hijra," or immigration jihad.