U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry reiterated the "need for stable supply and market values" during talks with Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih in Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Department of Energy said on Monday, in a first U.S.-Saudi meeting after Friday's OPEC+ deal to cut oil production again.
Neither U.S. departments, nor President Donald Trump have officially commented yet on the agreement of OPEC and its non-OPEC partners to cut a total of 1.2 million bpd of their oil production starting in January 2019 for an initial six-month period with an option to review in April.
Energy Secretary Perry made a two-stop Middle East visit in the weekend, and held bilateral meetings with al-Falih, and the CEO of Saudi Aramco and other energy industry stakeholders operating in Saudi Arabia.
"During the talks, the Secretary expressed that the United States continues to view Saudi Arabia as an important ally, particularly in the energy space. Perry and Al-Falih spoke about last week's OPEC announcement of production cuts and Perry reiterated the need for stable supply and market values. They also discussed the 2018 increase in Saudi oil production and the impact it has had on world markets in the wake of the Iran sanctions," the U.S. Department of Energy said.
Perry and al-Falih also continued dialogue on a possible agreement between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia on nuclear energy for civil purposes.
Cooperation with the United States in the field of nuclear power is only possible for countries that sign the so-called 123 agreement, which stipulates a clear distinction between using nuclear technology for civil and for military purposes, and binds the signee to utilizing the technology for civil purposes only.
Before landing in Saudi Arabia, Secretary Perry was in Qatar, which said just last week that it was quitting OPEC as of January.
"Secretary Perry advocated for the expansion of joint partnerships with the United States as Qatar seeks to grow its LNG operations around the world," the Department of Energy said.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More