UAE demonstrates energy capabilities ahead of Biden’s visit

UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ) announced that his country is a “reliable provider of energy and a supporter of global energy security, as it is the backbone of enabling global economic growth and development,” in a televised speech, just two days ahead of US President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah to attend the GCC Summit plus 3 (Egypt, Jordan and Iraq).

He affirmed that the policy of the UAE will remain supportive of peace and stability in the region and the world, saying, “We will continue our firm approach to strengthen bridges of partnership, dialogue and effective and balanced relations based on trust, credibility and mutual respect with countries of the world to bring stability and prosperity to all.”

MBZ added that the UAE has achieved many qualitative and exceptional achievements, saying “But our ambitions are much greater, and it is necessary that we continue to exert our utmost energies and effort to achieve more. Our responsibility is to secure a bright future for present and future generations and to achieve this goal depending on the work and effort that we offer today.”

The state’s priorities include development of scientific and technological capabilities to achieve benefits for all economic sectors and the society, he continued.

He added that the private sector’s role is vital and should be revitalized and contribute more to the economic development.

Since its establishment, the UAE has strengthened its relations with world countries on solid basics, he added, saying, “So, that is why the country has acquired a good reputation regionally and internationally thanks to its youth’s efforts.”

“We seek, in the coming period, to build upon this reputation through establishing unique strategic companies with various countries, based on Bin Zayed’s path,” MBZ said.

“We will work on enhancing our role among the world-leading countries in providing the development and humanitarian assistance and the charitable works,” he said, adding that the country will continue providing its help to all societies around the globe regardless of religion, race, or color.”

Demonstrating capabilities

MBZ’s speech was a message demonstrating the UAE’s energy capabilities amid the world fuel crisis that resulted from the repercussions of the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine.

“The UAE demonstrates its capabilities that the country can provide them [the world] to other countries in the Middle East and to the US, which has military bases in the Gulf Countries. The UAE wants to say that ‘we still have the capabilities that can meet the world market’s needs amid the western sanctions on Russia for political interests, safe away from the Iranian threats,’” said Egyptian economic expert Khaled El Shafie.

The UAE’s oil production is close to the maximum capacity of OPEC's ceiling, as it produces 3.168 million barrels per day, said UAE Minister of Energy Suhail Al Mazroui in media remarks in late June. The Emirates’ reserves of crude oil reached more than 107 billion barrels by the end of 2020, according to the UAE Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Center, Emarat El Youm newspaper reported on March 16.

Meanwhile, the head of the Economics Section at Sadat Academy for Management Sciences, Ihab El Desoky, told Jusoor Post that the speech has many messages to Biden that the UAE is a leading country in the region, not only as an oil exporter but also as a country exporting technology and tourism, and it also has a good investment climate.

Desoky also said that Biden’s visit would touch on the energy crisis. He did not rule out that the US and the GCC countries could reach an agreement regarding energy prices and output to avoid the repercussions of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict. “They have to be balanced when it comes to oil production and prices,” he noted.

The Russian-Ukrainian conflict caused the US and western countries to seek to convince Gulf countries to increase oil production in order to decrease its global price, which surpassed $95.93 per barrel on Thursday. 

In mid-June, the US Energy Department said it had awarded contracts to sell up to 45 million barrels of crude oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of an earlier announcement by President Joe Biden's administration on the largest-ever drawdown of emergency stocks. The Biden administration said in late March that it would release a record amount of 1 million barrels per day for six months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a means to cope with the increasing fuel prices since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in February.

The United States primarily depends on fossil fuels to produce energy, especially petroleum products, which constituted 36% of energy consumption by energy source in 2021, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.