Al-Falih assesses OPEC+ deal perspectives

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih believes that the benefit of participation in OPEC+ is obvious.

The minister noted that he met with the Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of SPIEF, who said that cooperation with OPEC needs to continue, that it is beneficial for the global economy, for the energy industry, and to recover from the problems we experienced especially in 2015-2016. "I see him as a serious and thoughtful leader," TASS cited the Saudi minister as saying.

From his subsequent meetings with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Al-Falih has drawn the conclusion that "the oil market will need continued supply oversight, while making sure that we continue to guide the market towards stability."

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy noted that he is fairly confident that from the OPEC side almost everyone agrees that they need to extend the Declaration of Cooperation.

As for Russia's decision, according to Al-Falih, he will wait for the Russian dynamics to work themselves out. There is a debate within Russia about the exact volume it should be producing in the second half, he added. And we with Novak will look at the global market and discuss it when we meet in three weeks, the Saudi minister said.

Al-Falih noted that he will have a chance to see Novak before the meeting in Vienna on July 3-4, as they both may be in Japan for the G20 meetings, in which case they will have an opportunity to further calibrate their positions.