Saudi, Russia move closer to record oil cut deal

DUBAI/MOSCOW/LONDON: OPEC and other oil nations held talks on Thursday on a record global production cut of up to 20 million barrels per day, equal to about 20% of global supplies, to support prices hammered by the coronavirus crisis, OPEC and Russian sources said.

Talks have been complicated by friction between OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia, two of the world’s biggest oil producers. But OPEC and Russian sources said they had managed to overcome their differences.

“That is a global deal,” one OPEC source said, without specifying whether it would involve the United States, something Russia and OPEC producers have insisted on.