Saudi, Russia stress mutual commitment to reduce oil production

Riyadh, April 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) Saudi Arabia and Russia stressed mutual commitment to reduce oil production, state media reported.

The commitment was highlighted during a phone call between the Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak on Thursday, Xinhua news agency quoted the state media report as saying.

The two sides released a joint statement highlighting that their countries have worked diligently with other OPEC+ countries and other producers to achieve a historic agreement to stabilize the oil market.

"Both our nations are strongly committed to implementing the agreed target cuts over the next two years," the statement said.

They noted that the two states would monitor the oil market and were prepared to take further measures jointly with OPEC+ and other producers if necessary.

The development comes after the oil-producing countries of the OPEC+ alliance agreed on April 12 to reduce output by 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) for May and June after four days of talks.

From July through the end of 2020, the cut will decrease to 7.7 million bpd, and will then be followed by an adjustment of 5.8 million bpd for another 16 months till the end of April 2022.

On April 9, the OPEC+ alliance and other crude producing countries had reached a basic agreement to reduce petroleum supply by 23 per cent, given the plunge in world demand and the concomitant plummeting oil price amid the severe economic disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the parties were unable to reach an agreement because Mexico disagreed with the cuts it was being asked to make and abandoned the telematic conference.

Source: IANS