The oil ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have warned that spare capacity is shrinking across all energy sectors, as commodities ranging from crude to diesel and natural gas trade at record highs on the following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I’m a dinosaur, but I’ve never seen these things,” Saudi minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who has attended OPEC meetings since the 1980s, told a conference in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Dhabi, referring to the recent spike in prices for refined products. . “The world must wake up to an existing reality. The world is running out of energy capacity at all levels.

The comments came the same week that U.S. retail gasoline prices hit a record high. The minister made similar remarks on Monday, saying a lack of investment in power generation and refining was driving fuel prices higher.

The prince’s counterpart in the United Arab Emirates, Suhail al Mazrouei, said on the same panel that without more investment across the world, OPEC+ would not be able to guarantee sufficient oil supplies when demand picks up. will fully recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are among the few producers investing in greater production. They are spending billions of dollars to increase their crude capacity by 2 million barrels per day between them by the end of this decade. Most others are struggling to secure funding as shareholders and governments push for a shift from fossil fuels to renewables.

Yet, for now, there is no shortage of oil and therefore no need for OPEC+ to accelerate its gradual production increases, according to Mazrouei.

“The market is balanced,” he said.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners, a group of 23 countries led by the Saudis and Russia, have come under pressure from the United States, Europe and other major importers to increase oil faster. offer.

Crude has jumped more than 35% this year to around $105 a barrel, mainly due to the attack from Russia. The European Union is moving closer to a formal ban on Russian energy imports in a bid to punish Moscow for the war.

OPEC+ approved an increase of 432,000 barrels per day for June at its last meeting on May 5. She struggles to meet even that modest monthly goal, with many members pumping below their quotas.

Prince Abdulaziz reiterated that OPEC+ would not allow geopolitics to affect its decisions. The United States has tried to get Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to distance themselves from Russia since the attack on Ukraine.

Mazrouei said prices had been pushed up by the “politicization” of the oil market.

–With the assistance of Grant Smith.