UAE joins oil price war via plan to up output in April

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has joined the oil price war through Wednesday's announcement of its plan to ramp up crude oil production by around 1 million barrels per day (bpd) starting from April.

"In line with our production capacity growth strategy announced by the Supreme Petroleum Council, we are in a position to supply the market with over 4 million bpd in April," the UAE's state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said in a statement.

"In addition, we will accelerate our planned 5 million bpd capacity target," it added.

The UAE, a member of OPEC, produced approximately 3.03 million bpd of crude oil in January, according to OPEC's Monthly Oil Market report for February.

The Gulf nation's decision comes after both OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC member Russia failed to reach a deal on Friday to curb their production levels to support prices.

While the failure to reach a deal caused a slump in oil prices on Monday when prices fell to their lowest levels in four years, both heavyweights over the past two days announced their intention to ramp up their production levels -- a move to preserve or increase their market share.

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia ordered its national oil company Saudi Aramco to increase its crude oil output capacity by 1 million bpd. On Tuesday, Russia said it might boost its crude oil production by 250,000-300,000 bpd in the short term, and up to 500,000 bpd in the longer term.