Corona scatters papers ... Saudi Arabia fails to persuade Russia to further reduce oil production

A source in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said that a committee - comprising a few ministers from member states, Russia and other producers - failed on Wednesday to reach agreement on additional cuts in crude production to support prices.

This comes at a time a Wall Street Journal journalist wrote on Twitter today - citing sources - that Moscow opposes a Saudi plan to increase production cuts of "OPEC Plus" by 1.2 million barrels per day.

Reuters quoted the source as saying that Moscow - which rejects additional cuts backed by Riyadh and other capitals - has proposed keeping the current OPEC Plus cuts until the end of the second quarter of the year, while some OPEC members want additional cuts ranging from one million to 1.5 million barrels. Daily.

And Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak - who held talks with his Saudi counterpart earlier today - left the meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee after more than three hours of the talks.

Earlier, Moscow said it might want to extend the existing cuts - which expire in March - but it may find it difficult to share even more cuts.

Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members wanted to win the support of Russia to join them in additional large cuts to oil production, to boost prices, which have fallen 20% this year due to the outbreak of the Corona virus.

On Tuesday, a technical committee composed of representatives of OPEC member countries, Russia and other producers recommended cutting production by between six hundred thousand and one million barrels per day during the second quarter only.

It also recommended that the current OPEC Plus group's current cuts of 2.1 million barrels per day be extended until the end of 2020.

An OPEC source said earlier that the organization "hopes to cut more than one million barrels, but the challenge remains Russia."

Iranian Oil Minister Begin Zangana indicated today that Moscow will resist any production cuts "until the last minute".

But sources told Reuters this month that OPEC countries may approve further cuts even without Russia.

The meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee held today is part of the process of developing recommendations for the wider meeting of OPEC ministers on Thursday and the meeting of "OPEC Plus" ministers on Friday.

The current cuts were not enough to counter the impact of the emerging Corona virus on China (the largest oil importer) and the global economy, as factories were disrupted, international travel was slowed and other activities slowed, which reduced the demand for oil.

The benchmark Brent crude price has reached about $ 52 a barrel today, a level at which many OPEC countries will face difficulty in achieving a balance in their budgets, even though Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the current price is acceptable.