OPEC ministers are expected to approve on Thursday the outlines of a deal for a significant cut in oil production to shore up prices hammered by the coronavirus outbreak but they are still waiting for Russia to indicate whether it will back such a move.
Saudi Arabia wants OPEC and its
allies, including Russia, to cut 1 million to 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) for the second quarter and to keep existing cuts of 2.1 million bpd, which expire this month, in place until the end of 2020.
But Riyadh, the biggest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and other members of the group have yet to win Russian support for such a deal. So far, Moscow has indicated it would back an extension but not a deeper cut.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who met his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak in Vienna on Wednesday, has kept the market guessing about progress in the negotiations. Asked about prospects for a pact shortly before OPEC ministers began their meeting in the Austrian capital, the Saudi prince told reporters: “We will have to see today and tomorrow.”
Moscow, which has cooperated on output policy since 2016 in an informal group known as OPEC+, has in the past shown reluctance during negotiations but has signed up at the last minute.
OPEC sources have signalled that preliminary talks with Russia this week in Vienna have been trickier than before. The slide in oil prices LCOc1 to about $51 a barrel has made it tough for OPEC states to balance their budgets, while Moscow has said it can cope with current prices.
“We now convene at a time when the outbreak of Covid-19 has had a pronounced adverse impact on economic and oil demand forecasts in 2020,” Mohamed Arkab, Algeria’s energy minister and current OPEC president, told ministers as he opened the meeting.
“Complex challenges require collegiality and concerted action,” he said
- Reuters
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