OPEC secretary-general Abdalla Salem El-Badri announced that he was planning to travel to Moscow in October to foster cooperation with Russia
El-Badri told about his plans during the OPEC's 149th conference in Vienna on Tuesday, where Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin proposed a regular dialog after a steep decline in oil prices from a record peak this summer. He led the highest-level delegation that Russia, which has observer status at OPEC, has ever sent to attend the group's conference.
Neither Sechin nor El-Badri said Russia would coordinate its oil exports with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a step that could make prices climb. Russia has not cut its supplies in coordination with OPEC in the past four years, although it agreed to do so earlier this decade.
"I don't think our cooperation with Russia will affect the consumer, because as far as we are concerned, we are trying to encourage dialog between producers and consumers," El-Badri said, Reuters reported.
When El-Badri and a group of OPEC experts come to Moscow next month, they will conduct a joint workshop on supply, demand and market issues, he told reporters after the conference ended.
OPEC will study Russia's proposals, El-Badri said.
