Saudi Arabia, allies behind failure of Doha talks: Russia

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has held Saudi Arabia and some of its regional allies responsible for the failure of recent talks in Qatar aimed at reducing a global crude supply glut.

“Yes, this was Saudi Arabia and a number of OPEC members, including UAE, Qatar. Mostly these were states of the Persian Gulf,” Novak told reporters following the Doha meeting on Sunday.

Some 18 oil-producing countries, including non-OPEC Russia, had gathered in the Qatari capital for what was expected to be a mere formality to sign the deal to freeze output at January levels until October 2016.

The deal had been in the making since February.

“In the end, it was agreed that countries representing OPEC would hold additional consultations with the countries which were not present at today’s meeting. These consultations will be additionally held before June, before the OPEC summit,” the Russian energy minister said.

He added, “In turn, countries not affiliated to OPEC, among them Russia, will be ready to consider their participation in another meeting if it is agreed upon. We actually think that the door is not shut and there will still be opportunities to hold additional consultations.”

Novak further said that the absence of an agreement over freezing crude oil outputs would have minimal consequences on Moscow since “Russian companies continue to operate with high competitiveness in the market.”

SS