Russia has a seat alongside Saudi Arabia in a group of members of the OPEC and its allies known as OPEC+.
That group is adjusting crude oil production levels ostensibly to control market volatility.
Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said he invited Saudi energy minister Abdel Aziz bin Salman to consider cooperation in the natural gas market.
Novak told TASS:
- He offered to think about this issue, we discussed it within the framework of our bilateral meeting
- And we came to a point where it would be nice to think about this topic
- We will think about it
He said:
- If we look at the gas and coal market, we will see that they need such a regulator
- Perhaps they should just copy paste and repeat what we are doing in the oil market
Putin said:
The European energy system is filled with vulnerabilities and this caused the crisis on the market
Moscow is prepared to work with its European partners to ease the crisis, he added, but if they want more gas, those partners should agree to long-term contracts.
Author: Daniel Graeber