Mubasher: The Russian President and Saudi Crown Prince will discuss how to boost oil production while maintaining their petro-alliance as they meet in Moscow on Friday to watch the World Cup’s opening match between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman, presidents of the largest oil-exporting countries, will be in talks over how to rework their deal to control oil production as US sanctions on Iran and the collapse of the Venezuelan petroleum industry threaten to send crude skyrocketing, Bloomberg reported.
"This is the most political OPEC meeting in a long time," chief oil analyst at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd Amrita Sen said.
“Saudi Arabia and Russia have proposed plans for the so-called OPEC+ group that would add as much as 1 million barrels a day, about 1% of global output, although Riyadh prefers a smaller increase. The back and forth signals major differences remain, even between Riyadh and Moscow, who’ve worked very closely over the past two years,” Bloomberg said.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet in Vienna on 22 June, with Iran, Venezuela, and Iraq publicly setting themselves against a production hike.
"An output increase by the four main producers (Kuwait, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE) looks inevitable," Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Citigroup Inc. in New York, said in a note to clients.
