AL KUWAIT, January 29. /TASS/. It’s necessary to keep the oil price at $50 per barrel in case Russia and member-states of OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) manage to reach an agreement at their meeting on reduction of oil output, Kuwaiti oil analyst Kamel al-Harami told TASS on Friday.

"The cost should not exceed $50 until the demand grows considerably," he said, adding that this is necessary both for Russia and for the oil cartel. "It’s important to keep distance between producers of traditional oil and shale oil in order not to undermine the market," the analyst said.

On Wednesday Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev said that Saudi Arabia had come forward with the initiative to discuss a possible reduction of oil production in the framework of the OPEC in the near future. On Thursday Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak confirmed the information, saying that the issue is about global reduction of oil output by 5%. However, according to a source in the oil sector speaking with Saudi daily Al-Iktisadiya, the authorities of Saudi Arabia do not plan to hold talks with Russia regarding oil production cut. "The announcement made yesterday (on Thursday) by the Energy Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak about Saudi proposal to reduce production is incorrect," the newspaper reported on Friday with reference to the source who said that other member-states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Algeria and Venezuela started making such proposals around a year ago.