MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. Saudi Arabia has not launched a price war against Russia and considers Moscow an important partner on the oil market, a source in OPEC familiar with the plans of the Saudi authorities told TASS.
"That is not true. Saudi Arabia does not plan any price wars against Russia. On the contrary, Russia is still a very important partner for Riyadh and a most important player on the energy market," a high-ranking source said, adding that the OPEC+ mechanism is alive and can work.
He confirmed though that without OPEC+ decision nothing restricts Saudi Aramco’s April plans. "All participants of the agreement, particularly its biggest participants, are responsible for current developments on the oil market," the source noted.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported, citing a person close to Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft that the company is ready to boost output as soon as April 1 when the current OPEC+ deal ends. It can increase output by 300,000 barrels a day within a week or two, the agency said.
A sharp jump in the dollar and the euro against the ruble follows the oil price drop amid the news that OPEC+ countries failed to agree on an additional reduction in oil production amid sliding demand due to the coronavirus. OPEC proposed to deepen production cuts by another 1.5 mln barrels per day until the end of this year. However, Russia and Kazakhstan opposed the proposal.