At a press conference during the G20 summit currently going on in China, Saudi Arabia's energy minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters that the two countries held discussions about the state of the oil markets which brought them "closer together," according to a Reuters report.

Al-Falih's conference was trailed as a "significant announcement" and appears to have disappointed many market participants, who were expecting that a decisive plan of action may be announced. As a result, the price of oil slipped somewhat from its pre-conference position.

Prior to the announcement, both major oil benchmarks were higher by more than 4.5%, but both have now dropped substantially as of around 3:25 p.m. BST (10:25 a.m. ET).