Saudi minister says no need for production freeze right now Russia ready to join agreement, energy minister says Oil traded near $45 a barrel as talks between Russia and Saudi Arabia over ways to stabilize the crude market fell short of an output freeze. Futures were up 1.3 percent Tuesday, paring gains of as much as 4.7 percent since the close on Friday amid speculation Russia and Saudi Arabia would announce plans to stabilize the market. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said at the G-20 summit in China on Monday there’s no need to freeze production now and he is optimistic a meeting later this month between producers in Algiers would lead to an agreement. His Russian counterpart, Alexander Novak, said the two nations were seeking ways to ease oil market volatility. Crude rose the most in two weeks on Friday as President Vladimir Putin said he’d like […]