Blame game between Saudi, Russia to cause delay to OPEC+ meeting: Report
A new report suggests that Saudi Arabia and Russia are still far from reaching a quick agreement on cuts to oil supply as rifts between the two rival producers deepen over who is to blame for a recent collapse in global oil prices.
The Bloomberg said in a Saturday report that a meeting between members of the organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a grouping known as the OPEC+, would not take place as expected on Monday because Saudis and Russia have just renewed accusations against each other.
The report cited sources familiar with the issue as saying that statements by top Saudi officials laying blame on Russia and attacking Russian President Vladimir Putin for the fall in oil prices may cause the meeting to delay for at least several days.
That comes as US President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he had managed to broker a deal between Riyadh and Moscow to force them to return to the table for negotiating new cuts to production.
However, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said early on Saturday that Putin was false for blaming Saudi Arabia for a standstill in talks on new cuts in an OPEC+ meeting that took place last month.
Bin Farhan, whose accusations on Putin was echoed in a statement by Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, said recent comments by the Russian president were “fully devoid of truth.”
OPEC+ members were planned to hold a meeting via video conference on Monday. However, sources told the Bloomberg that the meeting will be delayed because countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia needed more time for further deliberations.
After the failed attempt on new cuts in the meeting in March, Saudi Arabia ramped up production to historic levels of 12 million barrels per day and offered major discounts for its future oil deliveries.
That caused a major fall in prices in a market that had already been hit by lower demands because of the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic.
The news that the two oil producers may return to talks over the cuts had caused a rebound in benchmark oil prices of up to 50 percent.
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