Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Reportedly said Monday that decisions by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC and his allies (OPEC+) are not politicized and are based on market fundamentals, adding that the Alliance has enough flexibility to adjust policy as needed.

Bin Salman was speaking at a media forum in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh about last October’s decision to cut the group’s production target by 2 million barrels a day, Reuters reported.

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He said so in an interview with energy aspects last week the decision was locked in for the remainder of the year, the Reuters report said.

Oil prices rose more than 1% on Monday, led by optimism about Chinese demand, ongoing production restraints by major producers and Russia’s plans to tighten supply. The commodity traded lower in Tuesday morning’s Asia session.

Price promotion: Brent crude futures traded 0.8% lower at $83.39 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate Crude (WTI) futures were last up 0.41% to $76.65.

The United States Brent Oil Fund BNO closed down 2.01% on Friday during the Vanguard Energy Index Fund ETF VDE 3.67% lower closed.

OPEC has raised its global oil demand growth forecast for 2023 due to China’s easing of COVID-19 restrictions and reduced supply forecasts for Russia and other non-OPEC producers, according to its monthly report. Global oil demand will rise by 2.32 million barrels a day, or 2.3%, this year, OPEC said in a monthly report on Tuesday.

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