Saudi minister plays down oil dispute with Russia

Saudi Oil Minister AbdulAziz Bin Salman Al-Saudi has played down his country’s dispute with Russia over oil production, saying such a dispute could break out in any family but would eventually make it stronger, Anadolu Agency reported.

The Saudi minister made the remarks in an interview with the Bloomberg TV after OPEC, Russia and other oil-producing nations finalised a historic agreement to cut production by nearly ten million barrels, or a tenth of global supply in May.

Asked about the “heinous divorce case” between Moscow and Riyadh, the minister said that he would not call what had happened a “divorce” , adding “as with every family that goes through disputes, but keeps them within a closed inner circle, and usually these differences are resolved in the end”.

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“As you all know, this depends on the strength of ties in the family, and in this family our ties are strong, and overcoming differences makes any family stronger than before,” he said.

“So, as I said, we are a family, and as such, we are now more able to overcome any conflicts that may arise in the future,” he added.

On 6 March, Saudi Arabia and Russia failed to reach an agreement on reducing oil production causing a price war between the two major oil producers and sending oil prices to the lowest record in years.  However, following heavy pressure from the US a deal to cut production was penned in April and it will come into effect in May.