Saudi Arabia's MBS and Russia's Putin back OPEC+ efforts to balance oil markets

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the role their countries play in ensuring oil market stability in a phone call on April 16, the Kremlin said in a statement.

The two leaders who represent the largest producers in the OPEC+ alliance "spoke highly of the joint work in the OPEC Plus format aimed at ensuring the stability of the global oil market," according to the statement.

The OPEC+ bloc has continued to retain Russia as a member and has so far rebuffed efforts by oil consuming nations such as the US and India to bring on additional supplies as prices traded above $100/b.

According to the latest S&P Global Commodity Insights survey, Saudi Arabia, one of just a handful of countries holding significant spare capacity, kept its production steady in March at 10.25 million b/d. Ship-tracking data indicated its exports fell during the month, but several analysts surveyed cited increased refinery runs and said storage volumes may have also increased.

Non-OPEC leader Russia, hit by western sanctions targeting its financial sector after it invaded Ukraine, saw its crude production fall to 10.04 million b/d, the survey found. Many traders have stopped doing business with Russia, and analysts expect production shut-ins to build up in April and May, though some flows are shifting to Asian customers.