MOSCOW — On April 10, the OPEC, Russia and other countries managed to reach a new agreement to temporarily cut oil production. The agreement came after an almost nine-hour video conference held by energy ministers of major oil producing countries.

The new agreement, finalized April 12, involves cuts in oil production of 9.7 million barrels per day in May and June with 22 of the 23 participating countries having to cut production by 23% in comparison with the level of production of October 2018. Russia and Saudi Arabia are to reduce production from 11 million barrels per day to 8.5 million barrels per day. Mexico refused to reduce production by the proposed 400,000 barrels per day and only agreed to cut it by 100,000 barrels.

On April 12, US President Donald Trump had a trilateral call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud to congratulate them on arriving a deal. Putin and Trump then spoke in a separate call.

Also, before the agreement was reached, Saudi Arabia initiated a trilateral phone call between Salman, Trump and Putin that lasted almost an hour and a half. “The parties confirmed their commitment to coordinate actions on stabilizing the situation in global oil trade and minimizing the negative effect of oil price volatility on the global economy,” a brief Kremlin press release said.