Saudi Prince, Russian President urge OPEC+ to stick to agreed output cuts

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin urged OPEC+ oil producers to stick to agreed production cuts, increasing pressure on other members to deliver promised output curbs.

During a phone call, the two leaders reviewed global oil-market conditions and efforts made to achieve balance and support the growth of the global economy, the official Saudi Press Agency said. Both “agreed on the importance of all oil-producing countries to continue cooperating and abiding by OPEC+ agreement to achieve these goals for the benefit of both producers and consumers,” according to a statement from the kingdom.

With oil prices barely above $40 a barrel and new coronavirus outbreaks in Europe and the Americas weighing on demand, many in the market are questioning whether OPEC+ will go ahead with tapering its production cuts as scheduled over the New Year. The group is set to meet on Nov. 30-Dec. 1 for a full ministerial meeting to decide whether to reduce the size of the current production cuts from nearly 8 million barrels a day to 6 million barrels a day on January 2021.

The phone call, which was also reported by the Kremlin, came six days before a small group of OPEC+ ministers are scheduled to review compliance with the current production cuts on a conference call scheduled for Oct. 19.