Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the Kremlin press service reported on Tuesday.
"The sides confirmed their readiness for further joint work on the world energy markets, including in the OPEC+ format and within the framework of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum," the statement reads. Moreover, the leaders of the two countries stated that "Russian-Algerian cooperation based on the long-standing traditions of friendship and mutual respect continues its gradual development."
The parties agreed to establish more active contacts at different levels as well as to speed up preparation of important documents.
A day earlier, Putin had discussed cooperation in the OPEC+ framework in a telephone conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.
The previous time the presidents spoke by phone was last April. At that time, OPEC+ coordination was also among the topics, as well as regional issues, including the situation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The situation around Ukraine was also touched upon.
Last September, at the presentation of credentials to ambassadors, Putin noted that Moscow's interaction with Algeria was of a strategic partnership nature. This, he said, is "Russia's second most important, leading trade partner in Africa in terms of trade turnover." As the Russian president pointed out, trade and economic cooperation between the two countries continues to develop actively, as do ties in other areas, including military-technical and humanitarian.
At the meeting of October 5, 2022, the member countries of the OPEC+ agreement agreed to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) starting November, and prolonged the deal until the end of 2023. The OPEC+ deal quotas as of August 2022 were taken as the basis for the oil production cuts. At the December 4 meeting, the countries of the alliance decided to maintain the current oil production plan. Russia's quota under the plan is set at 10.478 mln bpd.
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is an intergovernmental organization of the world's leading gas exporters. Its current membership includes 11 countries: Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago, Russia and Venezuela. These countries control about 70% of the world's gas reserves, 51% of global LNG exports and 52% of pipeline gas supplies. Russia has the world's largest reserves of this fuel (about 25%). It is followed by Iran (about 17%) and Qatar (about 12%). The last FSEG ministerial meeting was held in Cairo last October.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS