Oil supplies were sufficient and stockpiles were still rising despite massive output drops from Iran and Venezuela, said OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and key producer UAE on Sunday, as oil exporters met in Jeddah.

Producer nations discussed how to stabilize a volatile oil market amid rising U.S.-Iran tensions in the Gulf, which threaten to disrupt global supply. But "we see that (oil) inventories are rising and supplies are plenty," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters at the start the meeting.

The UAE's energy minister said there was no need to relax a deal by the OPEC+ group of oil exporting countries to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day to support prices.

The meeting comes days after sabotage attacks against tankers in highly sensitive Gulf waters and the bombing of a Saudi pipeline -- the latter claimed by Iran-aligned Yemeni rebels. But Falih reiterated Sunday that the kingdom's oil installations were well protected.

The meeting also comes as the full impact of re-instated U.S. sanctions against Iran kick in, slashing the Islamic republic's crude exports.

Source : VOA