clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Russia does not rule out talks with Saudi Arabia on oil production

March 11, 2020 at 11:02 am

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (R) and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Buenos Aires, on 30 November 2018 [LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images]

The Kremlin said yesterday that it has not ruled out the possibility of resuming talks with Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest oil producer, to stabilise global energy markets.

Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, assured reporters that the Russian economy had sufficient international reserves and was sufficiently robust against any temporary market instability.

Peskov said the current fluctuations in oil prices are within the Russian Ministry of Energy’s expectations.

Earlier in the day, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the current oil price reductions did not affect Moscow’s oil industry’s ability to compete in global markets.

OPINION: Should Russia really declare an oil price war against the Middle East?

Russia announced yesterday that it will increase oil production by 300,000 barrels per day in April from its current production of 11.29 million bpd, while Saudi Arabia said it will raise crude pumping to 12.3 million bpd from the maximum sustainable capacity of 12 million barrels .

An oil price war erupted between Saudi Arabia and Russia after Moscow on Friday refused to extend the oil-supply cut agreement until the end of 2020; Saudi Arabia vowed to increase production from April.

The price war between the two major oil producers sent oil prices to their lowest point in years.