By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) -The United Arab Emirates is committed to the OPEC+ agreement and its existing monthly production adjustment mechanism, its energy minister said on Wednesday, hours after the Arab country’s ambassador to Washington said it favors an output increase.

“The UAE believes in the value OPEC+ brings to the oil market,” UAE energy minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said on Twitter (NYSE:).

Earlier, the UAE’s ambassador to Washington, Yousuf Al Otaiba, said in a statement tweeted by the embassy that his country favors an oil production increase and will be encouraging OPEC to consider higher output.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said on Wednesday that the UAE was giving support for increased oil production.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, has been restoring 5.8 million barrels per day in production cuts over the last several months, with another 400,000 bpd due in April, to restore supply cuts dating to the 2020 pandemic outbreak.

However, the group has resisted calls from the United States and allies to ramp up output as oil prices have surged to more than $120 per barrel.

The ambassador’s comments come a day after U.S. President Joe Biden imposed an immediate ban on Russian oil and other energy imports in retaliation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The ban will drive up U.S. energy prices but Biden said it was necessary to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for the invasion. Moscow describes its actions in Ukraine as a “special military operation”.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Tuesday that Washington called upon all producers across the globe to increase supply as the United States will not pressure its allies to follow suit and ban Russian oil and energy imports.