Putin Discusses Oil Market Stability With Saudi Crown Prince
MOSCOW, April 22 (Bernama-UPI) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a Friday conversation with the Saudi crown prince that collaboration with OPEC wouldensure the global crude oil markets are relatively stable, reported UPI.
Russia is a party to OPEC+, the core group of member states plus non-member state allies. The group made a surprise announcement in early April to trim productionby 1.6 million barrels per day starting next month.
Putin’s offi ce said Friday the president had a telephone conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, adding that Riyadh initiated the call.
The parties discussed several key topics on the bilateral agenda, with an emphasis on further expanding mutually benefi cial ties in trade, economic cooperation,investment and energy, a statement from Putin’s offi ce read. They expressed satisfaction with the level of coordination at OPEC+ aimed at ensuring the global oilmarket stability.
The statement refl ected reasoning from April 3 when OPEC announced the production decision. The cuts were taken as a precautionary measure meant to supportstability in the oil market.
Crude oil prices were volatile over much of the fi rst quarter and into April. The price for Brent crude oil, the global benchmark for the price of oil, traded as high asUS$88.19 per barrel in January and as low as US$72.77 in mid-March.
OPEC’s announcement in early April pushed Brent to US$87.33 per barrel, though it was closer to US$81 per barrel on Friday.
The precautionary was initially scoffed at given general economic resilience against higher infl ation, though the mood has since soured. The International MonetaryFund expects global economic momentum to be the slowest in years, while housing and labor in the US economy, the world’s largest, is weakening.
Russian crude oil, meanwhile, is the target of Western-backed sanctions imposed in response to the invasion of Ukraine. A price cap on Russian crude, meanwhile, ismeant to keep oil fl owing from one of the world’s largest producers, while at the same time limiting what goes into the Kremlin’s war chest.
The International Energy Agency said in its monthly oil report for April, however, that Russian crude oil exports last month were the highest since April 2020, beforethe war. Estimated oil export revenues rebounded by US$1 billion to US$12.7 billion, but were 43 per cent lower than a year ago, the IEA stated.
Gains from outside OPEC, meanwhile, won’t be enough to offset the planned production declines and the EIA expects global crude oil supplies will decline by 400,000bpd by the end of the year.
–BERNAMA-UPI
