Saudi Arabia Hosts Foreign Leaders To Discuss Hike In Oil Prices

On Sunday, the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, traveled to Saudi Arabia. There he met with both the Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Nayef, and the oil minister, Khalid al-Falih, to discuss oil production rates with the potential that an agreement would raise oil prices. A journalist and politician who accompanied the Venezuelan President on the trip captured some of the informal moments of the meeting and broadcast them on Periscope.

The two exchanged pleasantries, discussing the excellent coffee al-Falih and Maduro drank and al-Falih offered to send some to Maduro. Regarding the oil market, al-Falih told Maduro the following:

    “We had the Russian minister today in Riyadh, and we had all the Gulf minister’s today, and we had you, Your Excellency, so I think everybody is thinking the same way. Like you are thinking, that we have to create enough momentum to enter November, and create an agreement that is believable, that is credible, that is fair to our countries, and achieve the balance in the market and therefore the prices will go in the right direction.”

It appears that al-Falih was trying to reassure Maduro that OPEC is making progress towards a production agreement even though countries have yet to seriously discuss output numbers. Venezuela is desperate for higher oil prices, but a hike in prices will not come until Saudi Arabia accedes.