Oman welcomes US invitation to OPEC to discuss oil price decline
The agreement collapsed last month after Russia refused to support deeper production cuts to support prices hit by the coronavirus outbreak
Oman welcomes a US invitation to OPEC members to discuss ways of halting a collapse in oil prices, the country's oil minister said, according to the Omani al-Watan newspaper on Thursday.
Oman is not in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, but is a member of the OPEC+ alliance of OPEC and non-OPEC nations that struck an oil output deal that had led to relatively stable oil prices since 2017.
The agreement collapsed last month after Russia refused to support deeper production cuts to support prices hit by the coronavirus outbreak. In response, OPEC's de facto leader Saudi Arabia slashed its export prices and said it would raise production to maximum capacity.
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US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had spoken to the leaders of both Saudi Arabia and Russia and believed the two countries would reach a deal to end their price war within a few days.
"The invitation addressed by the United States ... to main OPEC member countries to return to negotiations may rekindle hopes of reaching practical solutions to controlling the oil price decline," Omani oil minister Mohammed bin Hamad al-Rumhy said, according to al-Watan.
"The oil market is going through a critical stage and the economical and financial losses, especially for countries dependent on oil revenues, will be large if prices remain where they are now," he added.
"We don't support countries in increasing production at this sensitive stage as it doesn't serve the global oil industry nor the states' interests."
International crude prices LCOc1 have fallen over 50 percent to below $26 a barrel since the OPEC+ output deal collapsed.
