Why should OPEC Plus increase energy supplies?

One is shocked and dismayed at the role being played by the developed countries in destroying oil producing countries one after another. Over the years they have partnered with United States in imposing embargoes and/or virtually destroying oil producing countries like Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Libya and Russia being the latest target.

It may be said that only United States can be blamed for the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Instead of facilitating ceasefire, United States is dumping tons of lethal weapons as well as billions of dollars in Ukraine to further fuel the war.

This on one hand has cut off Russian oil and on the other hand stopped export of eatables from Ukraine, adding to unprecedented inflation throughout the world.

The ministers from the Group of Seven countries on Friday called on Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC) to act responsibly to ease a global energy crunch brought on by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, even as they announced a breakthrough commitment to phase out coal-fuelled power.

The call, made at the end of three-day talks in Berlin focused on climate change, underscored that the world’s major economies were grappling with how to contain inflation and higher energy prices while sticking to environmental goals.

OPEC and its allies, a group known as OPEC Plus, to which Russia is a part has so far rebuffed Western calls for a faster increase in oil production to lower surging prices.

“We call on oil and gas producing countries to act in a responsible manner and to respond to tightening international markets, noting that OPEC has a key role to play,” said a communiqué issued at the end of the G7 talks.

“We will work with them and all partners to ensure stable and sustainable global energy supplies.” Ministers from the G7 group stressed that they would not let the energy crisis derail efforts to fight climate change.

They announced a commitment on Friday to work to phase out coal-powered energy, although failed to set a date for doing so.

The commitment was weaker than a previous draft of the final communiqué which had included a target to end unabated coal power generation by 2030.

Sources familiar with the discussions said Japan and the United States had both indicated they could not support that date. But the pledge still marked the first commitment from the G7 countries to quit coal-fuelled power.

The war in Ukraine has triggered a scramble among some countries to buy more non-Russian fossil fuels and burn coal to cut their reliance on Russian supplies.