UAE in pledge to increase oil output despite fall in prices

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has opened its annual oil-and-gas summit with a pledge to increase energy output even as global prices have fallen and world politics remains uncertain ahead of the US presidential election.

The Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference comes after the UAE last year hosted the United Nations COP28 climate talks.

Those talks ended with a call by nearly 200 countries to move away from planet-warming fossil fuels - the first time the conference made that crucial pledge.

But the UAE as a whole still plans to increase its production of oil to five million barrels a day in the coming years as it pursues more cleaner energies at home.

Meanwhile, UAE officials have made a point of avoiding any questions about the US election while maintaining their close ties to Russia despite Moscow's war on Ukraine.

"Allow me to say that we in the United Arab Emirates will always choose partnership over polarisation, dialogue over division and peace over provocation," said Sultan al-Jaber, who heads the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and who also led the COP28 talks in Dubai.

Crude oil prices have been depressed this year. Benchmark Brent crude traded around $74 a barrel on Monday as prices have dropped after concerns over the possibility that the continuing Middle East wars might grow into a regional conflict have begun fading.

But slowing economic growth in China and ample supply in the market are additionally dragging down prices.

Energy will be needed to fuel AI surge

In his speech opening the summit, al-Jaber pointed to artificial intelligence as a future technology that could be deployed by the energy industry - and one with a voracious appetite for electricity.

"No single source of energy is going to be enough to meet this demand," he said.

Politics was also close at hand at the summit on Monday. Whispers among the crowd attending the opening pondered who would be better for their businesses, Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump.

Suhail al-Mazrouei, the Emirates' minister of energy and infrastructure, dodged the first question by a presenter over whether his country preferred Trump or Harris.

"Of course, we will be discussing energy politics here and I (would) rather not ... talk about the election in the United States,' al-Mazrouei said. "As a political contest, we wish both candidates the best."

The UAE maintains close ties to Russia despite Western sanctions over Moscow's war. An announcer told the crowd where to find Russian translation for the event, while one of the main partners of the summit was Lukoil, Russia's largest non-state oil firm.