The UAE opens its annual oil and gas conference, pledging to increase production even as prices drop.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – The United Arab Emirates opened its annual oil and gas conference on Monday with pledges to increase energy production despite falling global prices and uncertain global politics ahead of the US presidential election.

The Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference comes after the UAE last year hosted the United Nations COP28 climate talks. Those talks ended with a declaration by nearly 200 countries to phase out fossil fuels that warm the planet – the first time the summit has made that important pledge.

But the UAE as a whole still plans to increase its oil production to 5 million barrels per day in the coming years as it pursues clean energy at home. Meanwhile, UAE officials have made a point of avoiding any questions about the US election while maintaining their ties with Russia despite Moscow’s war with Ukraine.

“Allow me to say that we in the United Arab Emirates will always choose relationship over division, dialogue over division and peace over anger,” said Sultan al-Jaber, head of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. COP28 talks in Dubai.

Crude oil prices have been depressed this year. Benchmark Brent crude traded around $74 a barrel on Monday as prices eased after concerns over ongoing Mideast wars escalating into a regional conflict faded in recent days.

But slowing economic growth in China and insufficient supply in the market are also driving down prices.

In his opening speech at the conference, al-Jaber identified artificial intelligence as a future technology that could be used by the energy industry – and which has a strong desire for electricity.

“No single energy source will be sufficient to meet this demand,” he said.

Politics was also very close to the conference on Monday. Whispers among the crowd attending the inauguration wondered who would be better at their businesses, Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump.

Suhail al-Mazrouei, who is the minister of energy and infrastructure in the Emirates, dodged the presenter’s first question about whether his country preferred Trump or Harris.

“Yes, we will discuss energy politics here and I (would) not … talk about the United States election,” al-Mazrouei said. “As a political contest, we wish both candidates the best.”

The UAE maintains close ties with Russia despite Western condemnations of Moscow’s war. An announcer told the crowd where to find Russian translations of the event, and one of the main sponsors of the conference was Lukoil, Russia’s largest offshore oil firm.