Putin back OPEC+ strategy, but called for remembering position of those who see risks of declines in market share

MOSCOW. March 12 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin supports Russia's participation in the OPEC+ agreement, which provides for regulation of oil production levels in order to maintain price stability, but also called for remembering that there is an alternative position: Russia's production cuts give countries that are not part of the deal a chance to compete for an additional share of the global market.

Pavel Sorokin, the supervisor of the OPEC+ deal within the Energy Ministry and First Deputy Energy Minister, brought up the deal during a meeting of the president with winners of the "Leaders of Russia" management contest. The OPEC+ agreement is a very effective measure, Putin said; and it has brought 30 trillion rubles into the budget. Putin noted that although Russia is making more money, oil production in the country is declining, while it grows in other countries, such as the United States, and there is an opinion that Russia may lose its markets, and thus in the future will not provide the necessary investments in further reproduction of reserves and production.

Sorokin replied that the U.S. is now bringing on stream the most efficient wells that were drilled before the COVID-19 pandemic but were not brought on stream.

Putin, after asking several questions from the position of an OPEC+ critic, then noted that he himself supports the deal.

"I am stating an alternative position. I support what he [Sorokin] says, otherwise we would not have an OPEC+ agreement. But this is the alternative point of view," the Russian president said.