Russia and OPEC are major oil producers. Considering the growing energy demand for the global economy, both Parties are consistently increasing their exports of hydrocarbons and developing new supply capacities. Meanwhile, both Parties have a mutual interest in the predictability and transparency of all factors affecting the oil market.

The OPEC activities aimed at oil market stabilization have been supported by Russia, thus having considerably increased their effectiveness. In addition, Russian and OPEC authorities have maintained numerous contacts at a high level, both informally and in the process of participation in conferences, workshops, and other events.

Next week, Russia commences its Presidency of the Group of Eight (G8). The Russian Federation has adopted the energy security theme as the main strategic initiative. Russia stages a wide dialogue today. The Parties believe that major energy resource producers and growing consumers have to be involved in it. The Dialogue between Russia and OPEC offers an opportunity to provide a balanced and constructive common perspective of producers on the energy theme on the Agenda of the G8 next year.

The framework for the Russia-OPEC Energy Dialogue was set up at today’s meeting, determining its objectives, scope, modalities, frequency, and overall structure. It was stressed that there should be a pragmatic and sustained process of dialogue.

It was agreed that there would be annual meetings at Ministerial level, as well as technical exchanges, seminars, joint studies and research. In addition to on-going oil market developments, other areas of interest to the two Parties included energy policies, upstream and downstream investment, data flow, and multilateral issues.