Russia, US deputy energy ministers talk oil market stability on COP 26 sidelines

Russia's deputy energy minister Pavel Sorokin met his US counterpart David Turk to discuss bilateral cooperation on stabilizing the global oil market, the Russian energy ministry said late Nov.10.

The meeting comes as US President Joe Biden comes under growing pressure to ease surging energy prices, which have helped to push up inflation in the world's largest economy to its highest annual rate in 30 years.

"The two sides discussed multilateral cooperation within the G20 on further stabilization of the world oil market," the press release said.

S&P Global Platts assessed Dated Brent at $84.3/b on Nov. 10, slightly retreating from a three-year high of $86.12/b seen on Oct. 25. The benchmark is up over 60% year-to-date. The Biden administration has failed so far to persuade OPEC+ to bring back more supply beyond the 400,000 b/d quota increase agreed for December, which was in line with its July deal.

However, 19 members of the OPEC+ accord were a combined 600,000 b/d below their allocations for October, bringing compliance to 113.21%, according to the latest Platts survey.

Platts Analytics expects global oil consumption to reach 103.2 million b/d in 2022, which is 700,000 b/d above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

The meeting between Sorokin and Turk took place on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. In addition, Sorokin and Turk exchanged views on issues on the climate agenda.

Russia and the US has been preparing for the upcoming talks between President Vladimir Putin and Biden before the end of the year, while their second in-person summit may take place in early 2022.