The Russian foreign ministry reported, on Tuesday, that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, in Riyadh, and both hailed the level of cooperation within OPEC+.

The remarks came amid reports in Western media that some members of OPEC+, an alliance of OPEC members and their allies, were considering excluding Russia from the group.

In a statement published on its website, the ministry added that "they noted the stabilizing effect that the tight cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia has on world markets for hydrocarbons in this strategically important sector.”

It is worth mentioning that Lavrov arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and is expected to meet with other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers, according to Saudi media.

OPEC+ is set to abide by an oil production deal agreed last year at its June 2 meeting, raising July output targets by 432,000 barrels per day, six OPEC+, Reuters reported last week citing sources.

Excluding Russia from OPEC+ could pave the way for other producers to pump significantly more crude, as sought by the United States and European nations, WSJ quoted OPEC delegates as saying.

What do you need to know?

Russia is a key member of OPEC+, an organization that was formed in 2016. It assigned production cuts to its members in order to keep oil markets stable and prevent price collapses, most notably as economies were hit hard during the Covid pandemic.

Lavrov's meeting with his Saudi counterpart came just days after the EU agreed to significantly reduce Russian crude imports as part of the latest sanctions imposed in response to the war in Ukraine.