Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan right speaks to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during their meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 31, 2022, in this photo released by the Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Riyadh on Tuesday and both men praised the level of cooperation within the OPEC, the Russian foreign ministry said.
The comments were made amid Western media reports that some members of the OPEC, including their allies, were considering removing Russia from the group.
The ministry said that the tight cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia has had a stabilizing effect on world markets for hydrocarbons in this strategically important sector.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia outside of business hours.
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Lavrov arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and is expected to meet with other foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC states, Saudi state media reported.
Six OPEC sources told Reuters last week that the OPEC is set to stick to the oil production deal that was agreed last year and raise July output targets by 432,000 barrels per day.
In 2016 OPEC was formed and assigned production cuts among its members to keep oil markets stable and act against price collapses, especially as economies shrank sharply during the COVID -- 19 epidemic.
Russia is a leading member of the OPEC along with some ex-Soviet states and other countries.
ALSO READ: US move to rein in OPEC fuels worries about it.
Exempting Russia from OPEC could potentially lead to the possibility of other producers pumping more crude, as sought by the United States and European nations, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Lavrov and his Saudi counterpart came shortly after the European Union agreed on significant cuts to imports of Russian crude as part of its latest sanctions linked to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Russia will halt gas supplies to companies in Germany, Denmark and Germany.
Russian energy giant Gazprom said Tuesday that it would no longer supply gas to Denmark's largest energy company Orsted and will stop deliveries to Germany under the Shell Energy Europe contract.
Orsted notified Gazprom Export that it would no longer make payments for gas in rubles, and Shell Energy Europe Limited said it would not pay in rubles for gas supplies to Germany, Gazprom said on Telegram.
It said the cuts will be effective from Wednesday.
On March 31 Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on new rules regarding natural gas trade with unfriendly countries and regions. The decree said existing contracts would be stopped if buyers refused to pay in rubles.