Saudi Arabia resists Mexican plan to make small oil output cuts: Sources

Saudi Arabia and other oil producers in the OPEC+ group pushed back on a Mexican plan to cut less than requested under plans for global supply curbs, two sources from the OPEC+ group said on Friday.

One source said the dispute, which held up efforts to finalize the deal on oil cuts, was the reason energy ministers from the Group of 20 (G20) major economies delayed issuing a communique until several hours after their talks ended.

The communique that was eventually released made no direct mention of oil cuts, referring instead to a commitment to take “the necessary and immediate measures to ensure energy market stability.”

G20 members, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed on the need for oil price stability but did not discuss specific “numbers” during their video conference meeting on Friday, according to Canadian Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan.

The Canadian minister also said that G20 members agreed to set up a focus group to report on a coordinated response on oil prices and production later. Mexico has reached a deal on oil-production cuts with the OPEC+ group after an intervention from the US.

Mexico was the lone holdout from a meeting held Wednesday of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia, and others, known as the OPEC+ group. The country had been asked to cut 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), a figure Mexican authorities balked at.

US President Donald Trump has agreed to cut an additional 250,000 bpd in production, on top of any other cuts, while Mexico will cut 100,000 bpd, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Russian President Vladimir Putin reviewed in a telephone conversation on Friday the efforts to achieve stability of energy markets to support the growth of the global economy, Saudi state news agency (SPA) reported.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Putin also reaffirmed the importance of cooperation between all producing countries, SPA added.