Photographer: Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg
OPEC + will react more quickly to the changes and take a more practical approach to the oil market, thanks to its accelerated schedule of monthly meetings, according to Russia and Saudi Arabia, the group’s leaders.
More frequent OPEC + conferences mean that political leaders in oil-producing countries will boost the market in the coming months, not speculators, said Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman. He spoke to reporters after talks in Riyadh on Saturday with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
“We meet monthly because we believe the market is not yet recovering and is still extremely volatile,” Novak said. “We need to take a practical approach and be able to react faster.”
After a difficult round of talks in early December, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed to meet each month, a significant acceleration of their typical bi-annual calendar. The next meeting will be on January 4, when they will consider whether to add to the market up to 500,000 barrels per day of production.
The two ministers reaffirmed their commitment to the group and its production cuts. Economic ties between the two countries were expanding, with growth in bilateral trade and joint investments from their sovereign wealth funds, they said.
“We are on the same page in our commitment” to make sure the oil market is stable, Prince Abdulaziz said. The face-to-face talks in Riyadh, which will follow another meeting in March, are a step towards a stronger relationship, Novak said.
Following his trip to Saudi Arabia, Novak will meet on Monday with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh in Moscow, according to the Russian official’s press service. Zanganeh also plans to meet with his newly appointed Russian counterpart Nikolay Shulginov as part of his visit to discuss the latest developments in the oil market, the Iranian ministry’s news service reported. Shulginov’s spokesman confirmed the meeting’s plans.
Zanganeh said this week that Iran plans it approximately double oil production to about 4.5 million barrels per day by 2021. This would clash with OPEC + efforts to stabilize the market by increasing the group’s production very gradually.
– With the assistance of Golnar Motevalli
(Updates with details of the Iranian oil minister’s visit to Russia in the last two paragraphs.)