President Vladimir Putin and crown Prince of Saudi Arabia discussed coordination within OPEC+

Moscow, 18 Okt – news Agency Neftegaz.RU. Russian President Vladimir Putin and crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman al Saud, in a telephone conversation, which took place in the 2^th time this week, discussed the agreement in the OPEC⁺ and expressed readiness for further coordination.
This was reported by the press service of the Kremlin on 17 October 2020

In continuation of the previous telephone conversation on 13 October 2020:

• was held a thorough exchange of views on the implementation of existing agreements in the format of OPEC⁺;
• both sides reiterated willingness to further close coordination in this area in the interest of maintaining stability on the world energy market;
• the parties agreed to continue contacts at various levels.

Recall that the new version of the Vienna agreement of OPEC+ entered into force on 1 may 2020.
It involves the reduction of oil production by the countries of the Alliance 9.7 million barrels./day during may – July 2020
Russia and Saudi Arabia, according to the agreement, has reduced oil production on an equal share of 2.5 million bbl./day from the background level of 11 million barrels./day.

Agreement will be valid for 2 years, but from August to December 2020 under reduction in the framework of the Alliance already gets 7.7 million bbl./day, and from January 2021 to the end of April 2022 – 5.8 million bbl./day.

The parameters of the deal may be revised in December 2021.

The vaccine Sputnik-V

The parties also discussed the prospects of using Russian vaccines Sputnik-V in Saudi Arabia.
The drug was developed by the National research centre of epidemiology and Microbiology named after N. F. Gamalei of the Ministry of health.

In early October, 2020, the head of the Russian direct investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev reported that the Fund is negotiating the production of the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is a foreign country, which will host the 3^I the testing stage of the Russian vaccine.

He added that Saudi Arabia also has purchased Russian drug “Aviewer” and tests for the diagnosis of coronavirus EMG, which was developed by scientists from Russia and Japan.