BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 24. OPEC Secretary
General Haitham Al Ghais has defended the reliability of Gulf oil
producers after comments by International Energy Agency (IEA)
Executive Director Fatih Birol suggesting they need to "regain
their reputation as reliable exporters."


The remarks were made in an opinion article by Al Ghais
published on OPEC's official website.


Al Ghais criticized Birol's assessment, arguing that it
overlooks the long-term record of Gulf producers and reduces
decades of reliable energy supplies to the impact of a single
ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. "To suggest that their
record has been fundamentally undermined by one crisis, which is
still ongoing, is to pass judgement on long-term performance based
on short-term turmoil," Al Ghais wrote.


According to the OPEC chief, Gulf producers have continued
supplying crude oil and petroleum products through multiple
regional and global crises over several decades while making
substantial investments in upstream production, refining capacity,
export terminals, pipelines and storage infrastructure.







He also noted that producers have maintained spare production
capacity at their own expense to help stabilize global markets
during periods of disruption. Al Ghais stressed that the current
situation in the Strait of Hormuz is the result of a military
conflict affecting a key maritime route rather than a failure by
producers to meet their contractual obligations. "It is a
systems-level vulnerability, not evidence that producers have
failed to honour contracts," he said.


The OPEC secretary general also argued that international
organizations should promote dialogue between producers and
consumers rather than question the credibility of oil-exporting
countries. "International and intergovernmental organizations
should be a bridge between producers and consumers, providing
shared reference points and analysis," Al Ghais noted.


He added that questioning the reliability of Gulf producers
during an ongoing crisis could undermine confidence and negatively
affect future investment in the energy sector. "The Strait remains
important, and no-one should question the reliability of Gulf
producers. In fact, the IEA should view them as active partners in
seeking a secure resolution, not parties who need to 'repair
trust'," Al Ghais concluded.