Weekend – Saudi Arabia reaffirmed again its OPEC+ partnership with Russia

Middle Eastern media citing the Financial Times

• Saudi Arabia plans to continue its Opec+ partnership with Russia despite western pressure on Moscow and a potential EU ban on Russian oil imports.

• Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the energy minister, told the Financial Times that Riyadh was hoping “to work out an agreement with Opec+ . . . which includes Russia”, insisting that the “world should appreciate the value” of the alliance of producers, the newspaper reported.

And, on output plans ahead for the cartel:

• Prince Abdulaziz told the FT that he could not predict what the new Opec+ agreement might look like, given the uncertainties in the market, but was confident that the group would increase production “if the demand is there”.

—

Currently, in line with the 2020 OPEC+ agreement, alliance members raised total production each month by 430,000 barrels a day. In theory. In reality:

• Russia’s output dropped by about about one million barrels per day (b/d) between March and April, and the International Energy Agency predicts that it could fall further, declining by as much as 3mn b/d if western powers do end up imposing tougher sanctions on Russia.
• Other cartel members are facing capacity constraints limiting thier output increases