Kazakhstan will prioritise national interests over those of the OPEC+ group when deciding on oil production levels, the country’s newly appointed Energy Minister Erlan Akkenzhenov told Reuters ratcheting up the standoff with the group.
Several other members of the OPEC+ group, including top producer Saudi Arabia, have been angered by Kazakhstan’s rising output, three OPEC+ sources told Reuters last month.
The minister also said the country was not able to reduce oil production at its three large oil-producing projects, as they are controlled by foreign majors.
“To act in accordance with national interests. This is a broad formulation, but it completely covers the entire situation that we have now. Act only in accordance with national interests,” the minister said.
(Reporting by Tamara Vaal; additional reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin and Louise Heavens)