Rouble up vs dollar for third day, Moscow oil meetings watched

The statement came as Saudi Arabia’s King Salman visited Moscow.

This was the first ever visit to Russian Federation by a Saudi monarch and experts have viewed King Salman’s trip as signalling a shift in global power equations.

“I am looking forward to reaching a consensus, working with you in the next few weeks before we have the November 30 meeting”, Falih said to Alexander Novak, his Russian counterpart.

Saudi Arabia is the most prominent oil-producing member of OPEC, making it the organization’s de facto leader.

An extension of the OPEC deal was possible and could last “at least to the end of 2018”, said Putin on Wednesday. The king also said there were opportunities to expand economic cooperation with Russian Federation.

The agreement was signed during the official visit of King Salman to Moscow.

The King, who arrives in Moscow on October 5, will have several investment deals on his plate, including on a liquefied natural gas project and petrochemical plants, and could also sign plans for a $1-billion fund to invest in energy projects.

This week’s visit to Moscow is the first of its kind by a reigning Saudi monarch and marks a new departure in relations between the countries. In 2003, the late King Abdullah visited Russian Federation when he was the Crown Prince.

Commenting on a possible USA reaction to a potential Saudi-Russia military deal, Nafaa said that the agreement is unlikely to lead to a significant deterioration in Washington-Riyadh ties. The Shiite-led regional power has spread its footprint throughout the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria. “Relations between Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia have reached an historical moment”. It is being treated as the highest level state visit.

The US is still Saudi Arabia’s top weapons supplier and an important ally, but yesterday’s deals highlighted Russia’s growing influence in the Middle East.

“OPEC and Russian Federation are talking about extending production limits, but there’s still plenty of supply with US crude exports up sharply”, said Carsten Fritsch, commodities analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

Saudi-U.S. ties were strained under the Obama administration over its backing of a nuclear agreement with Iran and its handling of the Syrian conflict.