Reuters exclusively reports oil talks between U.S. and Saudi Arabia

Reuters exclusively reported on June 15 that Saudi Arabia and the United States had met secretly to discuss an unprecedented proposal to swap sweet crude from the U.S. emergency reserve for imported Saudi heavy crude. Although the idea never left the drawing board, the story shed new light on behind-the-scenes energy diplomacy between the world’s biggest oil exporter and the largest consumer at a time of frayed relations, and came just weeks ahead of the fractious OPEC meeting on June 8 where ministers failed to agree on a production increase. It capped a week of winning OPEC coverage that included being first to report Saudi Arabia’s plan to increase output unilaterally, first to report the outcome of the meeting and first to carry in-depth interviews with the minister of Iran and the Secretary-General.