Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak positively assesses outcomes of the meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Faleh that took place before the meeting of the OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, TASS reports.
"The meeting was good," the Minister told reporters. The parties will have time and opportunities to negotiate specific parameters of the OPEC+ oil production capping deal in 2019, Novak said.
The committee is to make further policy recommendations for OPEC+ countries concerning oil production volumes at the forthcoming meeting.
The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee comprises six countries and its work is steered by Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Russia and Saudi Arabia have not yet reached consensus on the production cut volume, as reported earlier.
Both countries are playing a critical role in the OPEC+ oil production limiting agreement and assumed the largest quotas for oil production cuts during the first round of reduction in 2017. They had to change the course dramatically to boost production in order to prevent market deficit due to the production decline in Iran and Venezuela. A new offer surplus emerged after growth of oil production in these countries during six months. OPEC+ is now discussing the need for the new production cut.