Business: Russia and Saudi Arabia are talking — and the price of oil jumped

            

The price of oil jumped for a third consecutive day in early trading on Monday after some reassurance for the markets that oil's biggest players are working to try to stabilise the world's most important commodity.

Oil spiked by more than 1% earlier in the day following news out of Russia that the country is in talks with Saudi Arabia about the state of the oil industry.

Since then both major oil benchmarks have pared their earlier gains, and at 12:45 p.m. BST (7:45 a.m. ET) Brent crude, the international benchmark, is higher by just 0.02% to $46.98 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude is flat to trade at $44.49 a barrel.

The rise was largely down to comments from Russian oil minister Alexander Novak — often cited as the most important man in the oil industry — that Russia and Saudi Arabia were working together to create "market stability."

Reuters quoted Novak as having given an interview with the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat in which he said (emphasis ours):

"With regard to the cooperation with Saudi Arabia, the dialogue between our two countries is developing in a tangible way, whether in the framework of a multi-party structure or on a bilateral level.

"We are cooperating in the framework of consultations regarding the oil market with OPEC countries and producers from outside the organisation, and are determined to continue dialogue to achieve market stability.

"We are ready to achieve the widest possible level of coordination ... and put in place joint measures to achieve oil market stability, with the condition that these measures will not be for a limited period of time."

Russia and Saudi Arabia are probably the two most important oil producers on the planet, with Saudi Arabia the de facto leader of the OPEC cartel of oil-producing nations. Russia, alongside the USA, is one of the two biggest non-OPEC producers. What the two nations do regarding oil policy has profound effects on the markets. For example, at April's massively anticipated OPEC meeting about a freeze in production, Saudi Arabia refused to cooperate unless Iran joined in any production freeze, and, as a result the meeting ended up as a damp squib.

With the two nations starting to work together, hopes for a solution to the massive glut in the oil industry are rising. That glut has sent prices tumbling in recent weeks, with the commodity back into a bear market, down 20% from its recent high in June. Here is how that looks: