Saudi Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud speaks during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 10, 2021.
Yves Herman | Reuters
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister has said OPEC+ will keep politics out of its decision-making in favor of the “common good” of stabilizing energy prices.
As governments and international bodies around the world shun Russia — a major oil exporter and partner of the intergovernmental organization of 13 major exporters — over its invasion of Ukraine, OPEC and its allied oil-producing nations have thus far refused to follow suit.
Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said the organization’s very existence was dependent on a separation of its mission to stabilize oil prices from other geopolitical factors, even in the event of a widely-condemned invasion.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE voted in favor of a U.N. General Assembly resolution earlier this month urging Russia to abandon the invasion and withdraw all troops, and Prince Abdulaziz said there were other forums through which the Kingdom could voice its opinion on Russia’s actions, which is in line with the global response.
“When it comes to OPEC+ — I would take that privilege of saying I’ve been at it for 35 years, and I know how we managed to compartmentalize our political differences from what is for the common good of all of us,” Prince Abdulaziz told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Tuesday.
“That culture is seeped into OPEC+, so when we get into that OPEC meeting room, or OPEC building, everybody leaves his politics at the outside door of that building, and that culture has been with us.”
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