june 16 reuters  russia could continue cooperating within the opec oil production agreement beyond 2022 deputy prime minister alexander novak said after a surprise meeting with saudi arabias energy minister on thursday prince abdulaziz bin salman made a surprise appearance at the st petersburg international economic forum while not being listed on an official schedule and as many other guests avoided the flagship annual event the highprofile meeting comes as russia is pumping less oil than it current opec quota calls for after western sanctions saw some buyers either refuse or delay taking russian barrels read more russias crude oil production rose to 9273 million barrels per day bpd in may from 9159 million bpd in april an opec document showed on thursday and novak promised to add more next month as moscow finds strong demand from india and china still russia was producing 12 million bpd less last month than its quota of 1055 million bpd called for prompting speculation that moscow might be suspended from the pact read more the meeting between prince abdulaziz bin salman and novak lasted for more than an hour asked whether opec partners are complaining about russian underproduction novak told reporters after the meeting we see the current situation on the global oil market as balanced despite some uncertainties russia could continue to cooperate with opec even after the current deal expires at the end of this year novak said everything will depend on the market situation  whether it will require any quotas or it will be a charterbased cooperation he said it will be clear by yearend prince abdulaziz bin salman declined comments but described russiasaudi relations as good as the weather in riyadh reporting by reuters editing by mark potter and jason neely