Oil: Ryad and Moscow show their unity before the OPEC+ summit

Saudi and Russian energy ministers showed unity Saturday in a bipartisan meeting ahead of the January Opec+ summit and after a year marked by differences over oil production cuts in the face of falling prices.

At the beginning of the month, the member countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their partners, including Russia, decided after tough negotiations to limit to 500,000 barrels per day the increase in their production in January, against nearly 2 million initially "The charter of cooperation of OPEC + has brought us together and has brought good results (...) That is why it must continue". said Saudi Energy Minister Abdelaziz ben Salmane, during a press conference broadcast by the state channel Al-Ekhbariya.

"We have reconfirmed once again our loyalty to the agreements in force today," said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, responsible for the energy sector.

"We plan to work together to achieve a balance in the market situation," he added.

OPEC+ will virtually hold its 13th ministerial conference on 4 January, while Riyadh and Moscow will meet in a bilateral cooperation committee in March.

The Saudi Energy Minister said he hoped the meeting would be held "in person," as his country has just launched a major vaccination campaign against Covid-19.

OPEC+ members agreed on December 3 to "gradually" put back on the market some 2 million barrels per day early next year, starting with 500,000 barrels in January.

At the beginning of the year, a veritable price war had pitted Saudi Arabia against Russia, respectively the third and second largest oil producers, in a market undermined by the pandemic.

Faced with Moscow's refusal to further reduce world production in line with the cuts made by the cartel and its partners since 2018, Riyadh had brutally increased its own, causing prices to plummet to their lowest level in nearly two decades. An agreement had finally been reached within OPEC+.