Saudi minister not worried about Covid variant: Update

Saudi minister not worried about Covid variant: Update

Adds Russia's Novak comments in paragraphs 3 & 5, WHO comment in paragraph 6

London, 29 November (Argus) — Saudi Arabia's energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said today he is not worried about the new Covid-19 variant, known as Omicron, and Russia warned against Opec+ being too hasty in its response to that or to the recent agreement on a crude stocks release.

According to the semi-official Alarabiya news, Prince Abdulaziz offered no comment on Opec+ production plans ahead of this week's ministerial meeting, but his expression of a lack of concern indicates likely Saudi support for the alliance's programme of gradually increasing output on a monthly basis by 400,000 b/d.