Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud. About this on Saturday, October 17, the press service of the Kremlin.
The parties discussed the progress of the OPEC + deal and emphasized their mutual readiness for close coordination to maintain stability in the energy market.
The interlocutors also discussed the fight against the spread of coronavirus infection, in particular the prospects for using the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, they agreed to continue contacts between countries at various levels.
The previous telephone conversation between Putin and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia took place on October 13. Then the negotiating parties also exchanged views on the current situation in the world energy markets and stressed the importance of joint work, including in the OPEC + format.
The parties positively assessed the level of bilateral relations, and also expressed mutual readiness for further development of cooperation between the countries.
In March, the countries participating in the OPEC + deal did not agree on the level of oil production, after which it became known that Saudi Arabia plans to increase production to 10-12 million barrels per day and reduce the prices of its oil. A few days later, oil markets collapsed by 30%, and the ruble depreciated against the bi-currency basket.
OPEC + countries managed to agree on a new deal to stabilize the situation on the hydrocarbon market in April.
On September 17, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak announced that the OPEC + countries had fulfilled in August an agreement to cut oil production by more than 100% even after the transition to the second stage of cuts.