Oil Pares Gains as Saudi Arabia, Russia Fall Short of Freeze

  • Russia ready to join agreement, energy minister says
  • Saudi minister says no need for production freeze right now
Photographer: David McNew/Getty Images
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Oil pared gains as talks between Russia and Saudi Arabia over ways to stabilize the crude market fell short of a freeze on output.

Futures rose 1.6 percent in New York, after climbing as much as 4.7 percent before what was flagged as a “significant” announcement by Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih at the G-20 summit in China. While there’s no need to freeze production now, Al-Falih said he was optimistic a meeting later this month between producers in Algiers would lead to an agreement. His Russian counterpart, Alexander Novak, said the two nations were seeking ways to ease oil market volatility.