Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia and Russia have hammered out a private agreement in September to raise oil production in a bid to put a lid on the rising crude prices, Reuters reported, citing four informed sources as saying.
The oil-rich Kingdom told the US about this agreement before meeting the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major oil producers in Algeria last month, the sources added.
The sources further noted that Saudi Arabia's energy minister Khalid al-Falih and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak approved to raise output from September until December when prices headed towards $80 per barrel (pb).
“The Russians and the Saudis agreed to add barrels to the market quietly with a view not to look like they are acting on Trump’s order to pump more,” one of the sources told the news agency.
Al-Falih told the US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry Saudi Arabia, the OPEC kingpin nation, will raise its crude oil production if clients asked for more output, one of the sources said.
