Shahbazov made the remarks at a panel session entitled "Keeping energy ties in unstable world" within the Russian Energy Week forum held in Moscow, AzVision.az reports on Oct. 3.

“Let me tell you a brief history of how Azerbaijan decided to enter into the OPEC+ deal,” he said. “In February 2016, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev during the Davos Forum proposed that OPEC members and the countries outside this cartel cooperate and work together. The OPEC+ format was actually created in December 2016. At the same time, Azerbaijan chaired the first meeting of the OPEC+ initiative. Today, after almost three years, we see the results of this cooperation. Today we can really say that there is no serious volatility in the oil market. Yes, of course, there are some fluctuations in the market, but, nevertheless, they are insignificant. We don’t see any economic reasons for fluctuations, either.”

Thus, the key task that was set before the OPEC+ alliance has been fulfilled, he noted.

“We have ensured stability in the global oil market,” he added. “Another evidence of this is the fact that stability has remained in the market after the recent attack in Saudi Arabia. Of course, we all condemn this incident, but it clearly showed that even after such a serious and sudden reduction in supplies of oil, it became possible to maintain balance in the international market as a whole. We all saw that oil prices remained relatively stable and continue to remain stable. Together we can indeed ensure achievement of the results that we have. Today, for the international oil market, this is the only effective mechanism that we have. Therefore, it needs to be maintained and it is necessary to continue to work together.”

More about: OPEC