Russia and Saudi Arabia to submit proposal to OPEC+ on increasing oil production

Russia and Saudi Arabia are to submit a proposal to OPEC+ on increasing oil production. The news was announced by the Russian Ministry of Energy following Minister Alexander Novak’s visit to Saudi Arabia.

“We propose raising oil production in the third quarter by 1.5 million barrels, and then assessing the situation in the market,” said Novak.

The current OPEC+ agreement, which envisages a curb in output of 1.8 million barrels per day, may be reviewed at a summit in Vienna on 22–23 June. Novak earlier announced that President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman agreed to extend the OPEC+ agreement indefinitely.

“I would like to reiterate that a historic decision was taken during the meeting between Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman and President Putin in Moscow – that of indefinitely extending cooperation between our countries, as outlined in the so-called OPEC+ agreement,” said Novak, adding that the topic would be discussed further in Vienna.

Novak also noted that the decision to relax the OPEC+ agreement had to be with the view to providing equal opportunities for all countries to increase production, proportional to reduction quotas. “Opportunities must be provided to all parties equally... and with reduced output, the possibilities on offer vary from country to country. It appears fair to distribute this cutback in volume in proportion to reduction quotas,” said Novak.