RUSSIA - SAUDI ARABIA COOPERATION

ARAB NEWS - Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow Thursday.

Crown Prince Mohammed discussed bilateral issues with the Russian president in addition to Middle East developments and global topics important to both nations. The crown prince said during the meeting that cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Russia is beneficial to the entire world.

President Putin and his Energy Minister Alexander Novak attended the meeting with the crown prince and Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih.

The energy ministers released a joint statement saying they will work towards a balanced market supported by a stable and sufficient oil supply. The statement also said the countries support an increase of investment in the energy sector.

The ministers agreed to work toward setting up lasting structure for further cooperation between participants of declaration of cooperation in oil sector and work towards a comprehensive bilateral agreement.

The crown prince watched the opening game of the World Cup with the Russian president as the hosts comfortably defeated the Saudi Green Falcons 5-0. The pair were seen talking and gesturing at the match at Luzhniki Stadium in the Russian capital, even doing a fist bump at one point.

Earlier, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Saudi and Russian delegations would discuss a deal to cut global energy production. However, both countries were not planning to exit from the current agreement, Peskov said.

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Earlier:

2018, May, 28, 11:25:00 OPEC - RUSSIA CONSULTATIONS PLATTS - "At end of the day as important as Russia and Saudi Arabia are in terms of the largest countries, we have to be sensitive to views of all countries and will be consulting with all of them," Falih told a key energy session at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

2018, May, 25, 10:50:00 RUSSIA - SAUDIS DISCUSSION FT - "We will discuss the current situation, the outlook and possible further actions to be taken within the framework of our deal. Speaking of relaxing the deal: it is possible but should be based on a thorough analysis of the situation," Mr Novak told the Financial Times. "Generally speaking, we are quite flexible." Русский | English

2018, May, 14, 11:30:00 SAUDIS - RUSSIA COORDINATION FT - “Any action will be taken in co-ordination with other producers,” the person said on Wednesday, adding that Saudi Arabia was already in talks with Russia and other producers, including the UAE.

2018, May, 4, 15:30:00 SAUDIS NEED $88 BLOOMBERG - The IMF bolstered its estimate for the oil price the kingdom needs to balance the national budget this year to $88 a barrel, 26 percent more than an assessment made in October.

2018, April, 18, 13:12:00 RUSSIA - OPEC DIMENSION PLATTS - Russia is committed to its OPEC pact with Saudi Arabia and will continue supplying Europe energy despite tensions with the West after US-led strikes on Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime, said Vladimir Putin's spokesman.

2018, April, 2, 09:25:00 LONG-TERM OPEC COOPERATION SHANA - Leaders of the UAE, OPEC’s biggest producer Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC member Russia support extending energy cooperation beyond 2018. Cooperation on the part of a politically influential oil producer like Russia would add to the weight and influence of OPEC in global energy markets, both politically and in terms of decision-making.

2018, March, 28, 11:05:00 SAUDIS OIL FOR CHINA: +20% PLATTS - China's crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia in February rose 19.5% month on month to 1.21 million b/d, or 4.64 million mt, making it the second-largest supplier, data released by the General Administration of Customs on Tuesday showed.