Due to a lack of investments in the energy sector, there is almost no capacity left for increasing output, warn energy ministers from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates at a conference.

The warning comes at a time when oil, diesel and natural gas prices have almost reached a record level as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

”I am a dinosaur, but I have never seen these things,” says Saudi Minister for Energy, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who was born in 1960 and attended meetings with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries since the 1980s.

”The world needs to wake up to an existing reality. The world is running out of energy capacity on all levels,” he adds per Bloomberg News.

Gasoline prices in the US have risen to the highest level on record. A gallon of gasoline costs USD 4.88.

At the same time, a barrel of European reference crude Brent costs USD 103.79 while a barrel of US counterpart West Texas Intermediate trades for USD 101.16.

A lack of investments in energy production and refining is what has led to surging fuel prices, the Saudi minister argues.

At the same conference, the Energy Minister of UAE Suhail al Mazrouei says that without any investments in energy production on a global scale, OPEC and allies in OPEC+ would not be able to guarantee sufficient volumes of oil when demand returns pre-pandemic levels.

Last week, OPEC and allies in OPEC+, which includes Russia, announced that it expected to raise output by 432,000 barrels per day in June.

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