Maha El Dahan and Riham Alkousaa, Yousef Saba

DUBAI, (Reuters) – The energy ministers from Saudia Arabian and United Arab Emirates, both key members of OPEC+ said Tuesday that producers shouldn’t engage in politics because of the pressure to respond against Russia for its invasion Ukraine.

When asked by the moderator about whether OPEC+ had a moral obligation to remove Russia from its group, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman, Saudi Energy Minister said that “everybody leaves their politics at the door” during meetings.

We wouldn’t have had to deal with many different countries if we didn’t. The same could have happened with Iran, or with Iraq.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the biggest producer of crude oil in the OPEC+ group on February 24, 2017, OPEC+ is under greater pressure to produce more oil. Western countries enacted sanctions as a response, which have restricted Russian oil exports.

Prince Abdulaziz, as well as the UAE energy minister Suhail al-Mazrouei stated that their focus is on balance markets and satisfying customers.

We have only one mission, and that mission is to stabilize the market. Mazrouei stated that we can’t politicize or bring politics to an organization having this debate. Our aim is to calm down the market.

“If we ask anyone to leave, we raise the prices. This is contrary to what consumers want.”

These close allies of the United States are also members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and OPEC+. This includes OPEC+ and large oil producers like Russia and Mexico.

Prince Abdulaziz stated that Russia’s oil production is sufficient to supply about 10% of world consumption.

The world’s economy is at risk if oil supply security is compromised. He said that security should be a top priority and countries don’t consider the cost of oil affordability.

The Iran-aligned Houthis from Yemen have increased attacks on Saudi Arabia’s petroleum facilities over the past few weeks ahead of a temporary truce in place for Ramadan, a holy Muslim month. They also attacked the UAE.

Houthis claimed they attacked Saudi energy facilities recently and the Saudi-led alliance said that Aramco’s Jeddah petroleum products distribution station was struck. The attack caused a fire in two storage tanks, but there were no injuries.

Prince Abdulaziz drew the attention of members to the politics that is playing inside OPEC.

“I want to know who is throwing the missiles and rockets at Abu Dhabi and us? Who funds? At the event, he spoke out to refer to Iran, a rival of Saudi Arabia and a significant player in OPEC.

“Who supplies these weapons?” It is a member OPEC. It is a member of OPEC.