In an interview with CNBC on Monday, His Excellency Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Al Kaabi shared his views on the Saudi-Russia oil price war.

Saudi made a big miscalculation when it launched an oil price war with Russia – a move that sent oil prices into free fall, according to HE the Minister.

"I think it was a very big mistake to flood the market," HE Al Kaabi said.

"Flooding the market is what caused us to go to a very low level. And then the pandemic basically took it almost to a very dangerous area where people could not afford to produce anymore.”

The drop in crude demand in the face of the coronavirus lockdowns was already damaging the global market.

In early March, Saudi Arabia lowered its selling prices and amplified production after it failed to convince Russia to join its plan to further decrease output and boost prices, CNBC reported.

This resulted in a strong blow to the revenue of the producing countries, bringing OPEC and its non-OPEC allies (known as OPEC+) back to the negotiating table.

In April, they agreed to the largest production cuts in history at 9.7 million barrels per day, CNBC adds.

Those production cuts will extend until July with a view to bringing up prices.

"Now, I think the actions that have been taken by the same group really is to agree what was agreed in the past and keep more sensible," Al Kaabi said.

"So, there is a shortage of that coordination in the beginning of the year, now I think it's much better.”

Qatar withdrew from the OPEC in January 2019 after six decades with the group.

Al Kaabi said he is hopeful “the demand should pick up slowly with people coming out of quarantines all over the world, the lockdowns and especially the movement of transportation in general, mass transportation, airlines taking off again and so on.”

However, the likelihood of a second wave of the virus will continue to impact the energy outlook.

Scientists and health professionals have warned of a second wave of infections, which could slow the recovery to pre-pandemic levels, Al Kaabi highlighted.

“We may be more prepared for it and have less lockdowns around the world. If that’s the case, then we’ll see a much quicker recovery, maybe in six months to a year. If there is a second wave, then it could take a little bit longer,” he said.

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Source: CNBC, Al Jazeera.