Russia and Saudi Arabia Want to Extend OPEC Deal for 3 Months

Russia and Saudi Arabia insist on extending the OPEC deal for another 3 months – up to middle 2018.

For those of you who don’t know, Russia and Saudi Arabia are the world’s biggest producers and exporters of crude oil. They assume that the OPEC agreement to cap oil production, which was signed in November 2016 and extended in May 2017 up until March 2018, is going to be useful for balancing the global market of crude oil and backing higher oil prices.

According to several online sources, Moscow and Riyadh discussed this back in July 2017 in Saint Petersburg during the summit of the committee responsible for monitoring the proper implementation of the agreement. Even though the officials didn’t comment on the matter, an official OPEC representative confirmed that the possibility of extending the deal had been discussed during the summit.

The extended agreement to cap oil production (known as OPEC+) was signed by 13 OPEC members and 11 non-OPEC exporters in May. If there is another extension of the agreement, this is probably going to take place on September 22^nd, during the forthcoming OPEC summit in Vienna.

Some experts say that if the agreement ends in March 2018, traders will react negatively as if the market is in freefall.