Saudi Crown Prince: OPEC, Russia consider 10-20 year oil cooperation

OPEC is seeking a long-term deal to cooperate on oil output controls with Russia and other non-OPEC producers, said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“We are working to shift from a year-to-year agreement to a 10-20 year agreement,” the crown prince told Reuters in an interview in New York.

“We have agreement on the big picture, but not yet on the detail.”

Saudi Arabia recruited Russia and other producers to collaborate on oil supply curbs in 2017 after oil prices crashed and the Saudi oil minister said last week Riyadh hoped to extend that deal into 2019.

The crown prince said a flotation of 5 pct of state Saudi oil company Aramco could take place at the end of 2018 or early 2019, depending on market conditions.

Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said earlier that the agreement between producers from within and outside OPEC had helped absorb two-thirds of the surplus reserves from the market and praised Saudi Arabia's role in restoring energy markets.

Al-Falih stressed in an interview with Al Arabiya on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos late last year on the importance of ongoing cooperation with Russia.