MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Russia and Saudis agree to “act together” to lift price of oil from its two-year slump

Russia's energy minister, Alexander Novak, hailed the cooperation as marking a “new era” in relations between Moscow and Riyadh.

Energy ministers from the world's two largest oil producers, Russia and Saudi Arabia said on Monday that their countries had agreed to “act together” to lift the price of oil out of its two-year slump, though they provided few details as to how they planned to achieve that goal.

 The ministers announced their countries would set up a joint task force to review the state of the oil market and recommend policy measures aimed at stabilizing it. Their announcement came after a meeting at the G20 summit in China.

A joint statement released by Russia said both ministers “recognized the need to restrain an excessive volatility of the oil market” and agreed to act together “in order to stabilize the oil market.”

Russia's energy minister, Alexander Novak, hailed the cooperation as marking a “new era” in relations between Moscow and Riyadh.

“We believe that the market right now is taking too long to balance out. It's been two years, and joint steps which were considered earlier this year including a production freeze could be a great help in helping to balance the markets as soon as possible,” Russian news agencies quoted Novak.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, al-Falih said in comments carried by the Interfax news agency that the freeze “is not the only solution” but would not elaborate.

Russian President reportedly met with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20 to discuss how to best address a global supply glut that has hammered oil prices for the last two years.

Both countries' energy ministers are set to meet later this month at a meeting of the International Energy Forum in Algeria, and again at a meeting of the oil cartel OPEC in November, where they said they would further discuss their cooperation.

But without agreeing to curb output, it's unclear how either country hopes to affect the price of oil around the world. There has been tension in the oil markets ever since sanctions against Iran were lifted, thereby allowing the Islamic Republic to ramp up oil production to pre-sanctions levels.

Russia, which is not a member of the oil producing nations' group OPEC, this year supported calls to freeze production, but the efforts fell through.