UAE Oil Minister Says Low Oil Prices Won't Last For Long

ABU DHABI, Jan 19 (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates oil minister said on Monday that the drop in oil prices was unlikely to last for long and that the country would not alter its energy strategy because of the price fall.

“I doubt it is going to last for very long,” Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said during an energy conference in Abu Dhabi, without elaborating on the time frame for any price recovery.

“I am a believer in sustainable development, and sustainable development in the oil sector can’t be achieved under current prices,” he added. On Monday, Brent crude traded around $49.81 a barrel.

Mazroui said the UAE would continue its strategy of diversifying its energy mix for power generation. “We should not change course because of what happened (with oil prices),” he said.

On the country’s natural gas needs, Mazroui said the UAE was 50 percent short of its needs and would be placing more import orders.

Earlier this month the UAE said it wanted to import more gas from Qatar through the Dolphin pipeline. (Reporting by Rania El Gamal and Maha El Dahan; Writing by Amena Bakr; Editing by Andrew Torchia)