The United Arab Emirates will comply with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries' directive to reduce its output by 1 million barrels a day, from the official quota of 28 million barrels, Minister of Energy Mohammed bin Dhaen Al Hameli said.
"The UAE is starting, as from today, to decrease output by 100,000 barrel per day in compliance to the agreement reached by OPEC on October 19 in Doha, Qatar," Al Hameli said on the sidelines of the International Energy 2030 Conference on Energy Resources and Technologies, which opened in Dubai on Wednesday.
On whether OPEC needs yet another cutback, he said, "We are going to discuss this issue in Abuja, Nigeria, next December. The UAE continues to develop and boost its production capacity which is expected to go up to 3.5 million barrels per day by 2010.
"OPEC estimates growth in demand over the period 2003-2004 at 1.5 per cent per year pushing the world demand for oil in 2030 at 121 million barrels per day.
"More than three quarters of this increase will come from developing countries whose consumption is expected to double," Al Hameli said.
Do you want to discuss stock tips? Do you know a hot one? Join the Stock Market Discussion Group