Saudi Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman warned on Saturday that the sanctions being imposed by the European Union will have adverse effect on the energy sector resulting in the shortage of supplies.
According to Reuters, the minister said this at an industry conference in Riyadh, the state capital of Saudi Arabia in response to the question asked about the effect of the sanctions on the energy market.
The minister said, “All of those so-called sanctions, embargoes, lack of investments, they will convolute into one thing and one thing only, a lack of energy supplies of all kinds when they are most needed.”
The European Union had banned investment in the Russian energy sector on March 16, 2022 with the aim of increasing economic pressure, crippling its ability to continue invading Ukraine.
Russia was not mentioned in the Prince’s speech. Meanwhile, he said that the Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is most frequently used as a fuel for cooking and for heating, was reportedly being prepared for delivery to Ukraine by Saudi Arabia.
Prince Abdulaziz is described as one of the most prominent energy diplomats in the history of OPEC. Following his appointment as minister, he became the sixth minister in the country’s history to receive the oil file.
According to Reuters, when Prince was asked about his lessons from energy changes in 2022, he said it was that the world should “trust the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.”
“We are a responsible group of countries, we do take policy issues relevant to energy and oil markets in a total silo and we don’t engage ourselves in political issues,” he added.
