Saudi Arabia Continues to Support Russia’s Place in OPEC+

Saudi Arabia was hoping “to work out an agreement with OPEC+ …. which includes Russia,” Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told the FT. The “world should appreciate the value” of the alliance, he told the paper.

OPEC+ production quotas, which have been in place since April 2020, are set to expire in three months. The U.S. has been pressuring OPEC to boost output to ease surging energy prices.

Prince Abdulaziz told the paper that OPEC+ would increase production “if the demand is there,” but it was too soon to have an idea of what a new agreement would like like.

“With the havoc you see now it’s too premature to try to pinpoint” an agreement, he said. “But what we know is what we have succeeded to deliver is sufficient for people to say so far there is a merit, there is a value of being there, working together.”