Saudi Arabias crude oil exports in December 2019 were unchanged at 7.37 million barrels per day (BPD) month-on-month, official data showed on Monday. The countrys crude output fell by 296,000 BPD to 9.59 million BPD in December, the data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) showed. In December, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed to deepen output cuts for the first quarter of 2020. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak on Monday discussed OPEC+ cooperation by phone with Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh, Russia’s Energy Ministry said in a statement. The two men also talked about the state of world oil markets, the statement added. Iraqi deputy Ibrahim Bahr told local media that global markets’ oil prices witness a drop for two reasons: first is the drop in economic growth in China due to coronavirus and second is the increase in the US oil output. Bahr, who was an oil minister twice after 2003, expected global oil prices to range from $53 to $54 per barrel. He hoped that they won’t decline further, given that the situation is hinged to geopolitical conditions in the country and region. Japan announced that GDP shrank at an annualized pace of 6.3 percent from the previous quarter in the three months through December. There are forecasts that shrinkage will increase from Jan-March due to the virus. Jeffrey Haley, a market analyst at Oanda in Singapore, told Reuters that oil is still exposed to the supply surplus and the economic slowdown due to the outbreak of the virus in China and other parts of Asia.