Oil-producing countries including those of the
OPEC cartel and Russia are trying to strike a global
deal to pump less crude in a bid to limit a crash
in prices that, while welcome for consumers, has
been straining government budgets and pushed
energy companies toward bankruptcy.
Thursday’s videoconference is part of a series
of talks on stabilizing a market, where oil prices
have more than halved since the start of the
year amid a pricing war between Saudi Arabia
and Russia. The drop was intensified when the
coronavirus pandemic caused a further plunge
in the demand for oil as travel and business
ground to a halt globally.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said
Thursday that Russia will advocate for a
coordinated move that not only includes
OPEC and Russia, which had coordinated
production cuts for four years until they fell