OPEC hopes Russia can resolve differences between Iran and Saudi Arabia - Secretary General

MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. OPEC hopes that Russia and personally President Vladimir Putin will be able to help resolve the differences between Iran and Saudi Arabia to stabilize the oil market, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said in an interview with TASS during the Russian Energy Week. "There is no doubt that the president has more than political gravitas and leverage not only in the Middle East but globally as an astute statesman and a leader. We look upon him to use his good offices in helping us to reconcile some of the differences that exist between some of our member-countries in the interest of stability and peace to the extent that we can remain committed as oil-producing countries in OPEC and OPEC+ to continue to take the necessary and proactive decisions in maintaining stability in the market in the interest of all," Barkindo said. Barkindo also spoke about his meeting with Vladimir Putin within the Russian Energy Week. "We had a very fruitful conversation with President Vladimir Putin. It is always a great honor and distinct pleasure to meet with the president, to whom we hold very high esteem in OPEC and indeed in the OPEC+ group. He had been a consistent supporter of our cooperation with non-OPEC producing countries led by the Russian Federation, and he continuously provided the leadership that we seriously need especially in the current geopolitical circumstances that we find ourselves in. So by large it was a very productive meeting. I left the meeting in very high spirit that will continue to benefit from this leadership and from his support to quest for market stability," he said. The facilities of the national oil company Saudi Aramco in the east of Saudi Arabia were attacked by ten drones in the small hours on September 14. Yemeni Houthi rebels from the Ansar Allah movement claimed responsibility for the incident. Particularly, the world’s biggest oil refinery near the city of Abqaiq and a refinery near Khurais, where Saudi’s second largest oil field is located, came under the attack. The United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany have blamed Iran for the attack. According to their version, the attack was organized using drones and missiles, which are not in the arsenal of the Houthi. Tehran called these charges were baseless. Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Russian Energy Week forum said that Russia was against shifting responsibility for the attacks on energy facilities in Saudi Arabia to Iran. There is no evidence of Iran’s involvement in these attacks, he said. Read more