The Opec+ group is focused on lowering volatility and is "not doing anything" that relates to price targeting, Saudi Arabia's energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said today at an international conference in Canada, comparing the group's "conduct" to that of a central bank.
"We're targeting less volatility, more sustainable markets, more predictable markets," Prince Abdulaziz told the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary, weeks after Saudi Arabia said it would extend its 1mn b/d supply cut until the end of the year.
Working in tandem, Russia did the same with its 300,000 b/d of its crude exports and Brent crude futures are now approaching $95/bl.
"If you become ahead of the game, chasing the reality has its own toll", Prince Abdulaziz said today.
"International markets need regulating, light handed regulation," he said. "It is not the failed experiences of the past, when Opec tried to manage prices."
Prince Abdulaziz doubled down on Opec's recent criticism of the IEA. Opec last week called the IEA's views on peak oil demand "extremely risky" and Prince Abdulaziz today raised the Paris-based agency's track record, pointing to projections it made in late-2022.
"If I was the IEA, I would probably be very ashamed of what they have said during that month," he said in reference to October last year when the IEA's World Energy Outlook showed peak oil demand under all scenarios for the first time.
The IEA forecast peak oil demand by 2030 in its medium-term market outlook back in June. It now expects coal and natural gas demand to reach their respective peaks before the end of the decade.
"[The IEA] moved now from being a forecaster and assessor of markets to one of political advocacy," said Prince Abdulaziz.
