MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khaled al-Faleh has confirmed his participation in the Russian Energy Week to be held in Moscow on October 3, the Russian energy ministry said on Sunday after al-Faleh’s meeting with his Russian counterpart, Alexander Novak, in Moscow.
"The ministers discussed the current situation on the market and bilateral cooperation. The sides noted the good dynamics in the development of cooperation in the energy and industry sectors," the ministry said, adding that the Saudi minister had confirmed his participation in the Russian Energy Week on October 3.
TASS said earlier citing its sources that al-Faleh paid a brief visit to Moscow on Saturday after a meeting with OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo in Vienna.
The Russian energy ministry confirmed these reports on Sunday, saying the ministers had discussed the demand and supply dynamics on the market "with a focus on macroeconomic tendencies and potential scenarios for the development of the situation in the middle-term perspective." Russia and Saudi Arabia are ready "to swiftly react to the changing market situation to ensure, jointly with the partners, the market stability in any conditions," the ministry said in a press statement.
Novak and al-Faleh will meet again in Algiers on September 22-23, at the tenth meeting of the OPEC+ ministerial monitoring committee. The meeting in Algiers will be the biggest one in this format, with 20 signatory countries to the Vienna oil product cuts agreement takin part, sources told TASS.
The committee includes six signatory countries, namely Russia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Venezuela, Algeria and Oman. It will sum up the results of the implementation of the deal.
Another issue on the agenda may be allocation of quotas for the recovery of production within the June OPEC+ decision, sources in the cartel told TASS. In June, OPEC+ countries agreed to reduce the oil production restriction from 150% to 100%, which implies a production increase by one million barrels per day. The decision stemmed from a dramatic production fall in Venezuela, Mexico, Angola and Iran (due to the sanctions).
According to the International Energy Agency, in August, OPEC+ reached 103%, but production this month grew mainly in Libya, which along with Nigeria did not participate in the production cut deal. Meanwhile, according to the agency's forecasts, decline of production in Venezuela could accelerate and more oil will be needed on the market.