MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the oil market with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday and agreed the need for "close coordination" between their respective energy ministers ahead of OPEC talks next month, reported S&P Global with reference to a Kremlin statement.
"Both sides noted the importance of joint efforts in achieving OPEC+ agreements in April to limit oil production," said the statement. "They agreed that further close coordination on this issue should take place between energy ministers."
The group is due to meet between June 8-10 to discuss oil market conditions, its current production agreement, and potential future steps. In April, the 23 members of the so called OPEC+ alliance agreed to reduce output by an unprecedented 9.7 million b/d in May and June in response to plummeting demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Since then, Saudi Arabia has said it will voluntarily cut a further 1 million b/d in June. The UAE and Kuwait said they will cut an additional 100,000 b/d and 80,000 b/d, respectively.
The current agreement also includes a cut of 7.7 million b/d in the second half of the year, and 5.8 million b/d cut from January 2021 to the end of April 2022.
Dated Brent has more than doubled in value since hitting a 21-year low in April. Prices have recovered as major consuming nations begin to ease lockdowns and producers reduce supplies.
As MRC informed previously, China's crude oil imports from Russia rose 17.7% year on year to 7.2 million mt or 1.76 million b/d in April, resulting in Russia overtaking Saudi Arabia to become the country's top supplier in the month, latest data from China's General Administration of Customs showed.
We also remind that LyondellBasell, the world’s largest licensor of polyolefin technologies, has announced that Advanced Global Investment Company (AGIC) has selected LyondellBasell’s PP technology for a new world-scale facility in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia. AGIC’s proposed project includes two polypropyelene (PP) plants with capacity of 400,000 tons/year each.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market was 267,630 tonnes in January-March 2020, down 20% year on year. Homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers accounted for the main decrease in imports.
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