- Four sources familiar with the situation said Russia and Saudi Arabia privately struck a deal in September to boost output to cool rising oil prices and informed the United States before Algiers and other oil-producing countries met.
Saudi energy, industry and Mineral Resources Minister Khalid al-Falih and Russian energy minister Alexander Novak reached a consensus after a series of talks to boost output from September to December, when oil prices were moving toward $80 a barrel, sources said. At present, oil prices have risen to more than 85 dollars per barrel.
"Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to quietly increase their supply to the market so that it would not appear to have been increased by Trump's order," a source said.
"The Saudi energy minister told [U.S. Energy Secretary Perry] that if customers needed more oil, Saudi Arabia would increase production," another source said.
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