The Saudi energy minister said in an interview with the Saudi state news agency (SPA) that OPEC+’s market forecasts have been more accurate than others because they have been based on fundamentals rather than politics.

Speaking to SPA, Saudi’s Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said:“As I have emphasized multiple times, in OPEC+ we leave politics out of our decision-making process, out of our assessments and forecasting, and we focus solely on market fundamentals. This enables us to assess situations in a more objective manner and with much more clarity and this in turn enhances our credibility.”

“At the start of the Ukraine crisis, some predicted large supply losses of more than 3 million b/d which caused panic and contributed to extreme volatilities.”

He added that although the cartel was accused of not responding appropriately to the crisis, “these projected losses did not materialise.”

The prince said that when OPEC+ decided to reduce oil supply in October, the decision was seen as extremely dangerous and that politics may have played a factor. The fear that the move will “tip the global economy into recession and harm developing countries” were from panic-mongers, according to the prince.

“Again, in retrospect, the OPEC+ decision turned out to be the right one for supporting the stability of the market and the industry,” the Saudi energy minister added.