OREANDA-NEWS. Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak said that the country’s President Vladimir Putin played a key role in reaching a new agreement with oil producing countries.

According to Novak, without the participation of Putin, this deal could fail. “President of Russia Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin certainly played a key role in reaching an agreement between the countries of OPEC+. We saw a number of disagreements; in recent days, the president has repeatedly contacted both the president of the United States of America and the king of Saudi Arabia. These were ongoing negotiations on details,” the Minister explained in an interview with the television channel Russia-1.

According to forecasts by the head of the Ministry of Energy, the total reduction in world oil production in May–June in the OPEC+ countries, as well as in some other states, can range from 15 million to 20 million barrels per day.