DUBAI: Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, urged the OPEC+ producers’ alliance to exercise caution ahead of a key meeting to decide oil output levels for the 23 members over the coming month.

“Until the evidence of the recovery is undeniable, we should maintain this cautious stance,” he told ministers ahead at the monthly meeting.

He said that global oil demand recovery was uneven in the face of the pandemic hit to economic growth. “For most part, the market is on a stable footing and stocks continue to draw down. In some parts of the world, such as the US and the UK, the rollout of vaccines has been very effective,” the prince said.

“But in the Eurozone, infection rates continue to rise, and countries are reimposing full or partial lockdowns and extending restrictions to combat a third wave,” he added.

“Steering the ship in these current conditions where different scenarios are playing out in various regions of the world requires a steady hand on the tiller, as I said back in February,” he said.

Compliance to agreed OPEC+ supply levels was at 113 percent last month, he revealed.

The meeting is considering whether to add back 500,000 barrels a day to the global market, while Saudi Arabia is weighing whether to lift the 1m barrel voluntary cut it made at the start of the year.

The OPEC+ meeting commended Saudi Arabia for its recent green initiatives in the Kingdom and the Middle East, which it said was an important part of the global effort to address climate change.