© Reuters. UAE joins Saudi in opening oil taps as row with Russia slams crude pricesBy Rania El Gamal and Olesya Astakhova
DUBAI/MOSCOW (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates followed Saudi Arabia on Wednesday in promising to raise oil output to a record high in April, as the two OPEC producers raised the stakes in a standoff with Russia that has hammered global crude prices.
The extra oil the two Gulf allies plan to add is equivalent to 3.6% of global supplies and will pour into a market at a time when global fuel demand in 2020 is forecast to contract for the first time in almost a decade due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Oil prices have almost halved since the start of the year on fears OPEC states would flood the market in its battle with Russia after Moscow rejected OPEC’s call last week for deep output cuts and a pact on cutting output that has propped up prices since 2016 collapsed.
But Russia said on Wednesday it would not…
