DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived in the Gulf on Wednesday for meetings in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia aimed at reducing skyrocketing gasoline prices, as the West grapples with economic constraints from Russia’s war in Ukraine. is battling. is battling.
Johnson will call for more investment in the UK’s renewable energy transition and ways to secure more oil to reduce British dependence on Russian energy supplies.
However, his visit is also about putting pressure on these two major OPEC producers to pump more oil, which will have an immediate impact on Brent crude prices which touched nearly $140 a barrel in trading last week. Prices have dropped by about $100 in recent days due to the new pandemic lockdown in China.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine is causing global uncertainty and rising oil prices,” Johnson told reporters in Abu Dhabi ahead of his meeting with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed.
“Everyone can see the effect of hike in gas prices.
Because of Europe’s reliance on Russian oil and gas, Putin has been able to “blackmail the West into paying ransoms to Western economies,” he said.
“We need freedom,” Johnson said.
We are facing a new reality which we have to face together with our allies.
I am visiting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which are important partners in ensuring regional security and stabilizing global energy markets in the aftermath of Russia’s unprecedented, brutal and illegal invasion. https://t.co/ILNwWHnEtm
— boris johnson (@BorisJohnson) 16 March 2022
Biden ordered a US embargo on Russian oil imports after the war, and cautioned that Americans would suffer too – at the gas pump. Still, he declared, “protecting liberty can be costly.”
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed down oil demand, with Brent crude prices hovering around $42 a barrel in 2020, before climbing to $70 last year after major oil producers struck deals with heavy production restrictions. Was. was behind.
The deal, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, calls for a gradual increase in production levels every month as economies recover, but it did not account for the impact of the war in Ukraine started by Russia three weeks ago.
The UAE’s energy minister said as recently as last week that the country is “committed to the OPEC+ agreement and its existing monthly production adjustment mechanism.”
The Biden administration sent two officials to Riyadh last month to discuss a range of issues – chief among them global energy supply.
In a call with Biden ahead of the visit, King Salman doubled down on the “importance of maintaining the agreement” that OPEC producers and Russia have, according to a Saudi readout of the call.
“The reason I come here is that it is not like they have oil. They are also the UK’s biggest investor in renewable energy here in the Gulf,” Johnson said in Abu Dhabi.
(with AP)