Qatar: Saudi-Russia Oil Price War a Big Mistake

Qatar’s minister of state for energy affairs shared his thoughts on some of the major oil producers’ market moves in recent months, shedding disapproval on the March decision by Saudi Arabia and Russia to launch into a price war, which sent oil prices into free fall.
“I think it was a very big mistake,” Saad al-Kaabi told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble from Doha. Al-Kaabi is also CEO of Qatar Petroleum.
“You know, flooding the market is what caused us to go to a very low level. And then the pandemic basically took it almost to a very dangerous area where people could not afford to produce anymore. And we saw, you know, negative pricing in (US oil benchmark) WTI.” 
The markets were already being devastated by the crushing drop in demand due to global coronavirus lockdowns. 
The call to open the taps on oil production pulled the floor from under the market as Saudi Arabia slashed its selling prices and increased production after Russia refused to join its plan to further cut output and boost prices in early March. 
The hit to producing countries revenue was harsh enough to bring OPEC and its non-OPEC allies—known as OPEC+—back to the negotiating table.