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Saudi Arabia, Russia Stress Commitment to OPEC+ Decision on Oil Output Cuts

Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman meets with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in Riyadh. SPA
Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman meets with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in Riyadh. SPA
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Saudi Arabia, Russia Stress Commitment to OPEC+ Decision on Oil Output Cuts

Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman meets with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in Riyadh. SPA
Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman meets with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in Riyadh. SPA

Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman met in Riyadh on Thursday with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak who is visiting the Kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

They discussed global oil markets and the efforts of OPEC+ to promote market stability, SPA said.

They also stressed their countries’ commitment to the decision made by OPEC+ last October to reduce oil production by 2 million b/d until the end of 2023, and continuing Saudi-Russian cooperation within the OPEC+ framework to enhance global oil market stability.

The Saudi Energy Minister and the Russian Deputy PM discussed the preparations for the next meeting of the Joint Saudi-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, and Technical Cooperation, SPA said.

They also discussed ways of developing and strengthening Saudi-Russian relations in serving the interests of both countries within the scope of the committee’s work, the news agency added.

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Ukraine Receives First 3 Bln Euro Tranche of G7 Loan from EU

An explosion of a drone after it hit an apartment building is seen in the sky during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
An explosion of a drone after it hit an apartment building is seen in the sky during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
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Ukraine Receives First 3 Bln Euro Tranche of G7 Loan from EU

An explosion of a drone after it hit an apartment building is seen in the sky during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
An explosion of a drone after it hit an apartment building is seen in the sky during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Ukraine received its first 3 billion euro ($3.09 billion) tranche of the European Union's portion of the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) loan agreed for Ukraine by the G7 group of countries, its prime minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.

It was the first tranche of EU loan secured by profits from frozen Russian assets, Shmyhal wrote on the Telegram app.

G7 leaders in October agreed to provide some $50 billion in loans to Ukraine via multiple channels.
"Today, we deliver €3 billion to Ukraine, the 1st payment of the EU part of the G7 loan. Giving Ukraine the financial power to continue fighting for its freedom – and prevail," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media platform X.

In other economic news, Ukraine's steel output rose by 21.6% in 2024 to 7.58 million metric tons, its producers union said late on Thursday, though fighting that is closing in on the country's only coking coal mine threatens to slash volumes this year.

Steel production has already suffered since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, which has led to the destruction of leading steel plants.

Ukraine, formerly a major steel producer and exporter, reported a 70.7% drop in output in 2022 to 6.3 million tons. It fell to 6 million tons in 2023.

The steelmakers' union said in October the potential closure of the Pokrovsk mine, Ukraine's only coking coal mine, could cause steel production to slump to 2-3 million metric tons in 2025.
Advancing Russian forces are less than 2 km (1.24 miles) from the mine, Ukrainian military analyst DeepState said on Friday.
The mine's owner, steelmaker Metinvest BV, said last month it had already halted some operations at the mine and two industry sources said it was operating at 50% capacity.
Producers have said they hope to find coking coal from elsewhere in Ukraine should the mine be seized by Russian troops, but imports would inevitably be needed which would raise costs.