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DUBAI (Reuters) – The UAE Energy Minister said on Monday that the use of the US dollar as the main trading currency for oil could not be changed overnight.
"Trade with the US dollar should not change overnight … Let's not jump in these ideas," said Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui, questioned about the possibility that OPEC members abandon the oil trading in dollars.
Saudi Arabia threatens to sell its oil in currencies other than the dollar if Washington pbades a law exposing OPEC members to US antitrust lawsuits, three sources close to Saudi energy policy told Reuters .
"The OPEC has not said that, OPEC has not claimed that they would change the currency in trading and I have no point of view on the feasibility of that, "Mazroui said at an energy conference in Dubai.
He added that the respect of a supply reduction agreement between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC members, an alliance known as OPEC. +, should be satisfactory in April.
"The OPEC and its allies are achieving a balance in the oil market … OPEC and OPEC will always do what is necessary to achieve this balance in the market," said the minister. .
Mazroui said: "This is not the prediction or decision of a country … OPEC + is unanimous and non-OPEC countries are also unanimous."
"We will always make the right decision for the market."
Russia is a reluctant participant in its agreement with OPEC on maintaining production and could increase production if the agreement was not extended before it expires on July 1, said Friday the Minister of Energy, Alexander Novak.
The OPEC and other producers led by Russia agreed to reduce their combined production of 1.2 million barrels a day for six months as of 1 January this year, an extension of the cuts that had been applied from January 2017.
Participants in the agreement will meet in Vienna in June to decide what action to take.
Reportage by Dahlia Nehme and Tuqa Khalid; Edited by Dale Hudson and Kirsten Donovan
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