Russia, Saudi Arabia agree to freeze oil output to stabilize the marketFebruary 16, 2016 - 17:34 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The world's top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed Tuesday, February 16 to freeze oil output at January levels in a bid to stabilize an oversupplied market, Qatar's energy minister said, according to AFP. But they made their agreement conditional on the approval of other major producers. The Saudi and Russian oil ministers, along with their Venezuelan and Qatari counterparts, "agreed to freeze the production at (the) January level provided that other major producers follow suit," Qatar's Energy Minister Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada said. "This step is meant to stabilize the market," said Sada, who is acting president of the OPEC oil cartel, describing the meeting in Doha as "successful." Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said: "This is the beginning of a process which we will assess in the next few months and decide whether we need other steps to stabilize and approve the market. "We don't want significant gyrations in prices. We don't want a reduction in supply. We want to meet demand and we want a stable oil price," he said. Market response was muted, apparently because traders expected a production cut rather than a freeze, especially after output has hit record levels. Oil crept higher, with Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April advancing 50 cents to $33.89 per barrel in late morning deals. Related links: Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Ucom General Director gives lecture at French University in Armenia The General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian delivered a lecture at the French University of Armenia. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. |