UAE to keep investing in energy sector

(MENAFN) The UAE's Energy Ministry said that the country is will continue with its plan of building and upgrading its oil facilities despite the continuous decline and volatility in prices of oil, Gulf News reported.

"Many are saying because of what's happening around us in terms of the commodity prices, companies should rethink what they invest in their infrastructure. I disagree with that. I think the investment in the infrastructure and the upgrade of infrastructure has to continue," The UAE's Energy Minister said in a recent event in Abu Dhabi.

The Ministry added that the UAE pumped 2.7 million barrels a day of oil in December, making it the fifth-biggest supplier in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) which supplies about 40 percent of the world's oil, adding that the country can produce three million barrels a day and it plans to boost this capacity to 3.5 million barrels a day in 2017.

Meanwhile, OPEC, which is battling a US shale boom by resisting production cuts, said that it has cut its estimates for the crude it will need to produce this year by 100.000 barrels a day, to 28.8 million a day, also saying that it has exceeded its target of 30 million barrels a day for a seventh consecutive month in December by pumping 30.2 million a day.