An alliance between Saudi Arabia and Russia has helped prop up oil prices for the last three years. But the two big oil producers were not in perfect harmony this week, as they have tried to recalibrate production targets to cope with reduced demand from China, whose economy has been crippled by the coronavirus epidemic. Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman, wanted to move ahead quickly with a meeting to consider new production cuts, but he has struggled to persuade Moscow, even after his father, King Salman, made a call to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Monday. Instead, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries this week convened three long days of meetings of a technical group that produced a recommendation to cut output by 600,000 barrels, an almost 30 percent addition to curbs agreed upon in December but probably less than the Saudis wanted, according to some analysts. Still, Russia’s representatives told the group that while they found the recommendations reasonable they needed more time to consider them, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Source: International New York Times February 07, 2020 22:09 UTC