OPEC LISTEN TO CONSUMERS

BLOOMBERG - OPEC and its allies are doing what they can to offset crude output shortfalls that have kept global supplies tight and prices high, but they don't want to overdo it.

That was the message from United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei after being asked about U.S. President Donald Trump's call for the group to do more. He said it's important to avoid bringing the market back to the kind of excessive supply that triggered the recent downturn.

"It's unfair to say that OPEC is not doing its part," Al Mazrouei, who's also serving as president of OPEC, said in a TV interview with Bloomberg BNN in Calgary. "There are things outside of our hand, the geopolitics as well as how much production is coming from the shale oil and Canadian sands."

Oil futures are trading near three-year highs as disruptions in Canada and Libya, along with slumping production in Venezuela and a U.S. call for allies to stop buying from Iran, have overshadowed a pledge by OPEC and allies to add 1 million barrels a day. Surging prices led Trump to take to Twitter on July 4, accusing OPEC of "doing little to help" and urging the group to "REDUCE PRICING NOW!"

A day later, Saudi Arabia's state producer lowered August pricing for most crude grades in Asia and Europe and cut them for all grades headed to the U.S. The kingdom was also said to have increased daily output by about half a million barrels in June.

"We need to just give it time to enter the market," Al Mazrouei said of the extra supply. "When a major consuming country speaks, we listen -- we listen to the United States, we listen to China, we listen to India."

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Earlier:

2018, July, 6, 11:45:00 IRAN'S OIL IS IMPORTANT SHANA - Donald Trump's call on other countries to stop buying crude oil from Iran and putting European companies under pressure would be a kind of self-harm for the US leading to dramatic price hikes in the oil market, given Nigeria and Libya being crisis-stricken, Venezuela's crude oil output having plunged and Saudi Arabia's domestic consumption spike in summer, Iran's OPEC Governor says.

2018, July, 4, 12:20:00 SAUDI ARABIA & RUSSIA: +1 MBD BLOOMBERG - Saudi Arabia and Russia reaffirmed an agreement between OPEC and its allies, which they say will mean increasing oil production by 1 million barrels a day.

2018, July, 2, 12:15:00 KUWAIT'S OIL UP REUTERS - Kuwait will raise oil output by 85,000 barrels per day (bpd)starting on Sunday, part of an agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to increase production by one million bpd, Energy Minister Bakhit al-Rashidi told a local newspaper on Saturday.

2018, June, 22, 13:25:00 RUSSIA - SAUDIS SUPER OPEC BLOOMBERG - Russian Oil Minister Alexander Novak said in a speech yesterday that “we need to build upon our successful cooperation model and institutionalize its success through a broader and more permanent strategically focused framework.” His Saudi counterpart Khalid Al-Falih echoed those comments.

2018, June, 20, 13:10:00 OPEC DISCUSSES 600,000 BLOOMBERG - OPEC members are discussing a compromise agreement that would see an oil production increase of between 300,000 and 600,000 barrels a day over the next few months,

2018, June, 20, 13:05:00 IRAN - OPEC DECISION PLATTS - Iran will not accept any proposals for OPEC to raise its quotas, the country's oil minister said Tuesday, adding that even a 500,000 b/d increase "is not necessary." "Decisions in OPEC need unanimity," Bijan Zanganeh said on arrival in Vienna ahead of OPEC talks this week. "I don't think at this meeting we can reach an agreement."

2018, June, 6, 12:20:00 OPEC - RUSSIA OPINION REUTERS - “We have to look into the situation which has panned out on the market today, from the point of view of the volume cuts, inventories decline, shortages on the market, and to adjust the figures,” Novak told reporters.