Photographer: Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg
OPEC + will respond more quickly to changes and take a more hands-on approach to the oil market, according to Russia and Saudi Arabia, the group’s leaders, thanks to its accelerated schedule of monthly meetings.
More frequent OPEC + conferences mean policymakers in oil-producing countries will be driving the market in the coming months, not speculators, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said. He spoke to reporters after talks in Riyadh on Saturday with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
“We meet monthly because we think the market has still not recovered and is still extremely volatile,” said Novak. “We need to take a practical approach and be able to respond more quickly.”
After a During the difficult round of talks in early December, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed to meet every month, a significant acceleration from their typical semi-annual schedule. The next meeting will be on January 4, when they will consider adding as much as 500,000 barrels per day to the market.
The two ministers reaffirmed their commitment to the group and its production cuts. Economic ties between the two countries expanded, with growing bilateral trade and joint investment from their sovereign wealth funds, they said.
“We are on the same line in our promise” to ensure that the oil market is stable, said Prince Abdulaziz. The personal talks in Riyadh, which will be followed by a new meeting in March, are a step towards a closer relationship, Novak said.
After his trip to Saudi Arabia, Novak will meet Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh in Moscow on Monday, the Russian official said. Zanganeh also plans to meet 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 plans.
Zanganeh said this week that Iran is planning to do that oil production will roughly double to approximately 4.5 million barrels per day by 2021. That would clash with OPEC + efforts to stabilize the market by very gradually increasing the group’s production.
– With assistance from Golnar Motevalli
(Updates detailing the Iranian Oil Minister’s visit to Russia in the last two paragraphs.)