Russia is leading efforts to close divisions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to help strike a deal to raise oil output in coming months, three OPEC+ sources said, with OPEC and its allies yet to set a date for their next oil policy meeting.
Disagreement between the two Gulf OPEC allies was publicly exposed last week, with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi at odds over a proposed deal that would have brought more oil to the market -- potentially cooling a rally that has seen prices hit 2-1/2 year highs.
Moscow, which has been pushing to raise output, is now working behind the scenes to bring both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi back to the table to find a path to agreement, the three sources said. Russia has strong political and economic relations with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The other two sources said that Gulf OPEC member Kuwait has also been working to reconcile the differences between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Two different OPEC sources said there had been no progress in negotiations and no new meeting date suggested.The UAE on Friday accepted a proposal from Saudi Arabia to raise output in stages by about 2 million bpd from August to December 2021, but rejected an extension of cuts beyond April 2022, when the current agreement expires, without adjusting its baseline production - the level from which any cuts are calculated.