Painful blow dealt to upcoming OPEC Algiers meeting

Discussion of the oil production “freeze” is not on the agenda of the scheduled meeting between Russian and Algerian Energy Ministers, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with TASS news Agency.

“As for the freezing of oil production, the discussion of this topic is not on the agenda,” he said.

According to the minister, the main purpose of the meeting is to discuss bilateral trade and economic cooperation and joint projects.

He also predicted that the oil prices would probably decline by next January owing to the volatile world market thus lessening the impact of Opec in its fruitless efforts to redress crude prices.

“As the Co-Chairman of the intergovernmental commission with Algeria I supervise not only relations in energy sector, but also trade and economic cooperation in general. 

I should note that the Algerian Minister was only recently appointed and this is his first international visit. We have a list of issues that we are discussing within the cooperation, in particular, joint projects,” Novak said.

Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Bouterfa is on a visit to Moscow starting from Thursday.

According to Russian energy minister, the main purpose of the meeting is to discuss bilateral trade, economic cooperation and joint projects between Russia and Algeria.

Also, on September 26-28, Algeria will host the International Energy Forum, where oil exporters may hold talks on the “freeze” of oil production. Algeria, Venezuela, Ecuador and Kuwait are the initiators of the discussion. Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran have already confirmed their participation in private talks.