The U.S. will always play an important role in global energy markets, even though President-elect Joe Biden is likely to be less vocal than President Donald Trump about oil, the UAE’s energy minister told CNBC ahead of Inauguration Day.
“The United States of America is a major player now … with its production, with the fact that this industry that has been developed through shale oil and gas has created lots of jobs and created an economy by itself,” said Suhail al-Mazrouei.
That won’t change under a new U.S. president who is expected to focus more on renewable energy and less on oil, he said.
Whether President Biden and the new administration [will] be vocal on Twitter or not … the role of the United States will be always important.
Suhail al-Mazrouei
UAE energy minister
President Trump used to post on Twitter about crude oil and even communicated with OPEC leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia during the oil price war last year. Biden is likely to take a different approach, but al-Mazrouei said the U.S.’s leading role in energy markets is likely to remain.
“Whether President Biden and the new administration [will] be vocal on Twitter or not … the role of the United States will be always important,” he told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble on Tuesday as part of the virtual Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum.
Timeline for oil market recovery
South Belridge Oil Field is the fourth-largest oil field in California and one of the most productive in the U.S.
David McNew | Getty Images
Al-Mazrouei said there are still many barrels of oil in storage and the market is not balanced yet.
“We continue drawing down on the inventories until we reach some reasonable levels, and hopefully that will be done by … the timeframe that we set, which is April 2022,” he said.
“I’m optimistic that we would reach it before [that],” he added. “But let’s say, even if it takes us … to that date, then I think that will take us to balance.”
Oil prices have somewhat recovered on the back of vaccine hopes and production cuts, but are still down from pre-Covid levels and are expected to average just above $50 per barrel this year.
The International Energy Agency this week cut its forecast for global oil demand in 2021, pointing to surging Covid-19 cases globally and fresh lockdowns that will further limit mobility.
International benchmark Brent crude was up 0.81% at $56.35 on Wednesday afternoon in Asia, while U.S. crude was up 0.96% at $53.49.
— CNBC’s Sam Meredith and Natasha Turak contributed to this report.