According a statement from Abdul-Mahdi’s office, the two leaders discussed “coordinating efforts between the two countries and the rest of the parties in the OPEC organization and outside of it to control the oil market and prevent a fall in its prices”.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs also released a statement stating the importance of stabilizing the oil market.
“In the phone call, bilateral ties and the aspects of bilateral cooperation were discussed, and the importance of joint coordination in a manner that achieves stability in oil markets was affirmed,” the Saudi statement read.
Iraq is the second largest oil producer in the intergovernmental oil organization OPEC, following Saudi Arabia.
In July, OPEC, in addition to non-member Russia, agreed to extend oil cuts by nine months to keep oil prices from falling too low. In December 2018, the group agreed to remove 1.2 million barrels per day from the market to cut the oil glut that has long decreased oil prices.
Iraq, which heavily depends on oil for its revenue, is rebuilding following the 2014 Islamic State (ISIS) crisis, and high oil prices help the country obtain more revenues for this process. A sharp decrease in oil prices during the war against ISIS negatively affected the Iraqi economy.
Abdul-Mahdi previously praised the OPEC deal of July as “important” for oil market stability.
Iraq signed a deal with the US sanctioned Russia oil and gas engineering construction company Stroytransgaz on Wednesday in a bid to explore, develop and produce untapped oil reserves in Anbar province in the west of the country.
Iraq hopes to increase its production to at least 6 million barrels of oil per day in the com
