Efforts by OPEC+ oil producers to boost output are “not encouraging”, UAE energy minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said on Wednesday, noting the group was currently 2.6 million barrels per day short of its target.

“According to last month’s report, we have seen the conformity (to output cuts) of the OPEC+ group and the conformity was more than 200%,” Mazrouei told an energy conference in Jordan.

Conformity above 100% means a country is producing less than what it is supposed to be as OPEC+ looks to gradually remove its production curbs.

“The risk is when China is back,” Mazrouei said in an apparent reference to Chinese demand.

Prospects for demand growth in China, which is relaxing lockdowns, have been buoying crude prices recently.

Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Nadine Awadalla; writing by Maha El Dahan; editing by Toby Chopra and Jason Neely