OREANDA-NEWS. The two main participants in the deal to reduce OPEC+ oil production - Russia and Saudi Arabia - at a meeting of the monitoring committee, which ended on Wednesday evening, March 4, couldn't agree on recommendations for a further reduction in production amid the coronavirus epidemic, media reported.

The Saudis proposed to further reduce oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day - that is, even more than the day before recommended by the OPEC+ technical committee (0.6–1 million barrels per day). Russia believes that the deal needs to be extended, but without additional reductions in oil production, agencies point out. Energy Minister Alexander Novak left OPEC headquarters in Vienna, without waiting for the end of the committee meeting.

Other delegates at the end of the meeting refused to disclose agreed recommendations to the parties to the transaction. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told reporters that “we had a wonderful day”, but “we need to keep the intrigue”, the Russian media quoted as saying.

After news of the lack of solutions, the price of Brent crude oil fell a little, to $ 51.2 per barrel, but then within an hour it rebounded to almost the same level - about $ 52.