The latest round of voluntary oil production cuts shows cooperation between major producers, allies Russia and Saudi Arabia, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Wednesday, CNBC reported.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia said it would extend into August the 1 million bpd output cut it first signaled in July, while Russia said it would cut exports by 500,000 bpd next month.

That comes on top of a voluntary production cut of just over 1.66 million barrels a day that some members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, first announced in April and then agreed to extend until the end. 2024 during the ministerial meeting of the coalition in June.

Unlike OPEC+ policy decisions at the alliance level, voluntary production cuts do not require unanimous approval and do not have to be implemented by all members of the group.

Speaking about the latest cuts agreed by Riyadh and Moscow for August at an OPEC+ workshop in Vienna, Prince Abdulaziz said: “In the last step this week, yes, we are all continuing the voluntary cuts, but again, part of what we did With our colleagues in Russia was also to soften the cynical side of the audience about what is happening with Saudi Arabia and Russia.”

There have been some questions about the extent to which Russia will follow through on its commitments to voluntarily cut crude oil production, given the continued lack of transparency over refinery consumption and seaborne exports, which have not been accepted in Europe since December and have been diverted to Asia.

The Russian administration has suspended the publication of official statistics on the production of oil, natural gas and condensate until April 2024, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.

Reducing exports, not production, would allow market participants who rely on independent third-party tracking data to verify Russia’s compliance with its obligations.

“It was a voluntary reduction that was not imposed on them … including the delivery that they will do it at the expense of their exports because they are more significant,” Abdulaziz said on Wednesday.

In a June interview with CNBC, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said that OPEC+ could have “absolute” confidence in Russia.