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Russia and S. Arabia have common ground on OPEC+ deal, sources say

One of the sources pointed out that the sides still had to coordinate "certain details and the mechanism" of extension

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. Russia and Saudi Arabia, the largest oil producers in the OPEC+ deal, generally adhere to a consolidated stance on extending the current level of oil output cuts in the first months of 2021, two sources in the organization told TASS on Sunday.

One of the sources noted that "there is a consensus between Russia and Saudi Arabia." Another source confirmed this information but pointed out that the sides still had to coordinate "certain details and the mechanism" of extension.

Earlier TASS sources said the sides had discussed extending the current level of oil output cuts (by 7.7 mln barrels per day) for three or six months of 2021. The OPEC+ Monitoring Committee should have given its recommendation for the alliance’s ministerial meeting on this issue on November 17 but took a time-out to make a decision. Informal consultations between the committee’s ministers are scheduled for 19:00 Moscow Time on Sunday.

The OPEC+ ministerial conference is due to be held on November 30 when only OPEC countries will consider the Monitoring Committee’s recommendation and on December 1 when the decision will be made by non-members of the organization.

The revised OPEC+ agreement on crude output cuts came into force on May 1. The first stage of the deal that envisioned output reduction by 9.7 mln barrels per day, ended in July. Starting August and by the end of this year 7.7 mln barrels per day are to be reduced, while starting January 1, 2021, 5.8 mln barrels per day will be cut. The agreement expires in April 2022.

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