Austria declines to attend Opec conference over media ban

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Austria’s international minister has declined to attend an Opec convention in Vienna subsequent week amid an escalating dispute over the oil cartel’s determination to bar massive numbers of outstanding information organisations from attending.

Alexander Schallenberg, who was attributable to be one of many first audio system on the Opec seminar within the Austrian capital on July 5, stated by a spokesperson that “media freedom” together with “protection of political developments” was a “cornerstone of any democratic society”.

Opec has not given any public cause for the ban however the FT has reported it was instigated by Saudi Arabia’s vitality minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who has struggled to spice up the oil worth in latest months. Individuals near the minister have stated he believes his view of the oil market has not been given sufficient prominence.

Schallenberg’s workplace stated his determination to not attend was attributable to “scheduling” points, whereas emphasising the function of press freedom. It’s the newest improvement in a stand-off between Opec and a bit of the media, after the group barred Reuters, Bloomberg and the Wall Avenue Journal from attending their ministerial assembly in Vienna earlier this month.

This week Opec rescinded invites to the identical information organisations for the two-day seminar subsequent week the place ministers from the group share the stage with among the prime executives within the oil trade, together with BP’s chief government Bernard Looney and Patrick Pouyanne of TotalEnergies.

Opec’s secretary-general, Kuwaiti Haitham Al Gais, stated on the group’s assembly at its headquarters in Vienna earlier this month that “that is our home”, when requested how the group might justify banning massive sections of the press, with out elaborating.

However Opec extending the ban outdoors its headquarters to a venue with out diplomatic standing put the Austrian authorities in a clumsy place, because the seminar is because of be held on the Hofburg Palace — a website owned by the Austrian state.

The imperial palace, one of many grandest in Europe, occupies a generally uncomfortable place in Austria’s personal historical past. In addition to housing the nation’s modern museum it was additionally the location Adolf Hitler used to announce the “Anschluss”, which included Austria into the Third Reich.

Opec has based mostly its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, 5 years after the group’s founding, when town served as a comparatively impartial assembly level between east and west through the chilly struggle. Vienna has lengthy fostered relations with worldwide organisations that want to base themselves within the metropolis, offering a big contribution to Austria’s financial system.

The press ban has raised questions for different contributors within the occasion, together with Kadri Simson, the EU vitality commissioner. Simson stated she would participate within the roundtable dialogue she was scheduled in however would “not have interaction with media on the convention” with a purpose to be honest to people who have been banned.

Western firms together with Hess from the US and Austria’s OMV — which is part-owned by the state — are additionally sponsors of the occasion. Neither firm responded to requests for remark.

Different firms with executives showing, together with Vitol, Petrobras, BP, TotalEnergies and Halliburton, didn’t reply to requests for touch upon their participation or whether or not they supported restrictions being positioned on entry to the press.

Schallenberg was attributable to seem on the seminar’s opening panel alongside Haitham Al Gais and the vitality minister of Equatorial Guinea, Antonio Oburu Ondo, who holds the rotating presidency of Opec this 12 months. The panel was set to debate “the worldwide vitality panorama”, in accordance with a preliminary programme.

A spokesperson for Opec declined to remark.

The ban from Opec comes as Prince Abdulaziz, the half brother of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, has struggled to assist oil costs. Regardless of main Opec and allies together with Russia in three provide cuts since October, crude costs have slipped again to close $75 a barrel from a excessive close to $130 final 12 months.

Prince Abdulaziz has change into identified by some merchants as “the prickly prince” for lashing out at those that oppose him, together with merchants that wager towards the worth. He has often warned quick sellers they might be “ouching” in the event that they wager towards him.

Saudi Arabia wants a better oil worth to assist finance Crown Prince Mohammed’s formidable social and financial reform programme, together with numerous “gigaprojects”, such because the creation of the futuristic Neom metropolis on the Pink Sea.

Bloomberg stated in an announcement on Wednesday that it was “very involved” by Opec’s determination, including that “for the sake of market transparency” the information organisation would “strongly advocate for Opec to permit
journalists from related international information shops to attend”.

Reuters stated that “transparency and a free press serve each readers, markets and the general public curiosity”, including “we object to this restriction on protection”. The Wall Avenue Journal declined to remark.

Different press organisations, together with the Monetary Occasions, have been invited.

Extra reporting by Alice Hancock in Brussels