Senior Saudi energy official visits Baghdad to extend oil output cuts

Saudi energy minister Khalid Al-Falih will meet with his Iraqi counterpart in Baghdad today as the top oil producer seeks to convince others to extend output cuts for a further nine months ahead of an OPEC meeting on Thursday.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets in Vienna, Austria, to consider whether to extend the cuts agreed in December last year between the body and 11 non-member countries, including Russia.

Saudi Arabia is pushing to extend the cuts until next March. Earlier this month, it agreed with Russia to back extending oil output cuts.

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It is the first time in nearly three decades that a senior Saudi energy official has visited Baghdad.

“The two ministers will discuss boosting bilateral relations and the upcoming OPEC decision to help boost global prices and reduce the glut in the market,” Iraqi oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad told Reuters.

Last week Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said that Iraq was in favour of extending the current deal but did not specify for how long. The country’s oil minister Jabar Ali Al-Luaibi had previously said that Iraq would support a six-month extension.