Gulf heavyweights kept busy as world worries about oil supply over Ukraine conflict

New Delhi, March 17: Realising the global economic fallout from the Ukraine conflict, top leaders of the world are keeping the Middle East heavyweights busy these days to ensure the stabilization of oil markets and minimise the damage.

On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson travelled to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to "warn of far-reaching consequences" and "galvanise global action" on the crisis in Ukraine.

Johnson met the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed al Nayhan, in Abu Dhabi today and "stressed the importance of working together" to improve stability in the global energy market.

"The leaders welcomed the longstanding partnership between our two countries and discussed opportunities to increase collaboration between the UK and UAE on energy security, green technology, and trade," said a statement from the UK Foreign Ministry.

Describing Saudi Arabia as another key partner in ensuring regional security and stabilising global energy markets after Russia's military action in Ukraine, Johnson then travelled to Riyadh to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Long before Johnson took off from London for his one-day visit to the region, the UK government had admitted that energy security issues and volatility in energy and food prices is affecting businesses and consumers in the country "as well as regional stability in the Middle East".

The UAE and Saudi Arabia are the UK's two largest economic partners in the Middle East, with bilateral trade worth ?12.2bn and ?10.4bn in 2020 respectively.

"In addition to potential further measures to increase oil production, the Prime Minister is focused on diversifying the UK's energy supply and working with international partners to ramp up renewables," stated the UK Foreign Ministry.

Johnson, the statement added, will also discuss the "importance of allies working together" to increase the diplomatic and economic pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime.

"The UK is building an international coalition to deal with the new reality we face. The world must wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons and starve Putin's addiction to oil and gas," Johnson had said before his departure.

Saudi Arabia is the third largest supplier of diesel to the UK and has also committed to net zero by 2060 ahead of COP26 besides investing heavily in green technology at home and in the UK.

Johnson also announced that Saudi Arabia's Alfanar Group is investing ?1 billion in the Lighthouse Green Fuels Project in Teesside, aiming to be the first company to produce sustainable aviation fuel from waste at scale in the UK.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, had also received a phone call from Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday.