Oil: Russia satisfied with a barrel at 60 dollars, says Putin

A barrel of oil at $ 60 "fully satisfies" Russia, said Wednesday its president, Vladimir Putin, while praising the role of Saudi Arabia in the cooperation between Russia and the OPEC countries.

The price of oil has dropped and then increased again but, in my opinion, (a price) around $ 60 is perfectly acceptable, we are fully satisfied, "he said, noting that the budget Russian had been built on the basis of a barrel at 40 dollars.

Taken between a surge in production in some major producing countries and fears of falling demand, oil prices peaked in early October at their highest level in four years, before falling by nearly 30% .

The barrel of Brent traded at 59.6 dollars Wednesday around 14:30 GMT.

In mid-November, the Russian president said he was satisfied with a barrel at the price then much higher of 70 dollars per barrel.

Russia has cooperated in recent years with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which it is not a member and of which Saudi Arabia is the leader, to limit the supply, which has allowed a rebound in prices after the collapse of 2014-2015.

"We worked with the OPEC countries (…) to balance supply and demand, and for the first time in the history of this organization we managed to do it 100%, all agreements have been put into practice, which has never been the case in the organization itself, "Vladimir Putin said.

"This was largely due to Saudi Arabia's position, it is essentially a merit of Saudi Arabia and the crown prince, he was the initiator, and this led to positive results," he said. did he declare.

While Saudi Arabia, leader of OPEC members, is campaigning for cuts to boost prices, "Trump is trying to add pressure" to continue their decline, according to analysts ActivTrades.

OPEC and its partners, including Russia, will meet next week in Vienna to decide on their future level of production.