Russia’s OPEC+ Role Crucial 

OPEC's new secretary-general said Russia's membership in OPEC+ is vital for the success of the agreement, Kuwait's Alrai newspaper reported, quoting an exclusive interview with Haitham al-Ghais.
He said OPEC is not in competition with Russia, calling it "a big, main and highly influential player in the world energy map", Reuters reported.
OPEC+ is an alliance of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia.
Al-Ghais, Kuwait's former OPEC governor, will head his first OPEC+ meeting on Aug. 3, in which the group will consider keeping oil output unchanged for September, despite calls from the United States for more supply.
However, a modest output increase is also likely to be discussed, eight sources told Reuters last week.
AL-Ghais told Alrai that "OPEC doesn't control oil prices, but it practices what is called tuning the markets in terms of supply and demand," describing the current state of the oil market as "very volatile and turbulent."
Commenting on oil price hike, he said the recent rise in oil prices is not related only to developments between Russia and Ukraine.