Japanese FM pressures UAE to pump more oil to lower prices
Japan's request, among others, may cause a rift in OPEC+.
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Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan's Foreign Minister.
On Sunday, Japan urged the United Arab Emirates to extract more oil to calm global markets down: The markets have been affected by the Ukraine crisis.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi came during meetings with Emirati officials while German economy minister was on a visit three weeks after February 24.
Boris Johnson, Britain's Prime Minister, flew to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to push for more oil to lower the prices, which have reached over $100 a barrel, in addition to requests to supplies away from Moscow.
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Hayashi requested "the UAE to contribute to the stabilisation of the international oil market by supplying a greater amount of oil, securing spare productive capacity as a leading member of OPEC+," according to the Japanese foreign ministry.
Sanctions on Russian energy have contributed significantly to the rising oil prices, which Japan has also been responsible for.
Although Abu Dhabi provides Japan with a third of its oil imports, it did not promise more production.
The foreign minister spoke to UAE FM Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Industry Minister Sultan Al Jaber after earlier this week when Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida requested the same move in phone calls with both Emirati and Saudi leadership.
Last week, Abu Dhabi signaled that it seeks more pumping as a solution to regulate the market, as the UAE's ambassador to the US hinted that higher production in OPEC+ would lower global prices. However, the UAE reaffirmed its commitment to OPEC+ one day after.
Upon being asked whether he got any guarantees regarding oil, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded "I think you need to talk to the Saudis about that," he commented on his way back from the kingdom.
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Several analysts are saying that oil producers do not have the spare capacity to replace Russian oil exports, and that they are hesitant in bumping heads with the major OPEC+ partner.
The oil producers are also afraid of causing a market panic if all the reserves areused up, according to Amena Baker, an analyst from Energy Intelligence.
