Qatar Diplomatic Row Unlikely to Affect Vienna Agreement - Moscow

Russian Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna Vladimir Voronkov stated that the latest regional diplomatic crisis with Qatar is unlikely to affect an agreement among major producers to cut oil output.

VIENNA (Sputnik) — Russia does not expect the latest regional diplomatic crisis with Qatar to affect an agreement among major producers to cut oil output, Russian Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna Vladimir Voronkov told Sputnik.

"This document has an economic rather than a political focus, so I do not think that this will have any significant impact on the implementation of the agreement," Voronkov said Monday.

Noting that not all countries of the Arab Gulf and North Africa have "exited" diplomatic relations with Qatar, he said "I think that no big changes are to be expected here."

Earlier in the day, Saudi Arabia alongside Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar amid the row over the latter’s alleged support of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist movement, which is outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In November 2016, OPEC member states signed an agreement in Vienna limiting oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day. On December 10, 11 non-OPEC countries decided to jointly cut oil output by 558,000 barrels per day, with Russia cutting its output by 300,000 barrels per day for six months from January 2017. The agreement set to expire in June was prolonged for additional nine months on May 25.