UAE won't ramp up oil output despite US pressure to fill dearth sparked by Ukraine invasion

The UAE is committed to the OPEC+ agreement - which includes Russia - on monthly oil production and has not agreed to individually increase production outside that framework, UAE energy minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei told state news agency WAM on Thursday.

It follows reports that the US had called on oil producers to ramp up supplies following a dearth sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The UAE's ambassador to Washington, Yousuf Al Otaiba, had said in a statement which the embassy posted on Twitter that Abu Dhabi favoured an increase in output and would encourage OPEC to consider one.

But later, Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei said the country believed in the value OPEC+ brought to the market.

"The UAE is committed to the OPEC+ agreement and its existing monthly production adjustment mechanism," Al-Mazrouei tweeted on Thursday.

"The UAE believes in the value OPEC+ brings to the oil market," he added.

At last week's OPEC+ meeting, the 13 members of the Saudi-led OPEC group and their 10 allies, including Russia, agreed to hold firm on plans to stick to existing output targets through April.

A surge in prices and supply fears following Russia's invasion of Ukraine have led to calls for the OPEC to increase output.

The US and its European allies have also issued sanctions or pledged to phase out Russian energy supplies.

Until now, the group of producers comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, has resisted calls from the United States and others to increase output, even as oil prices surge to more than $120 a barrel.

Reuters contributed to this report