Novak: OPEC+ decision to increase production as of April was independent, linked to seasonal demand
MOSCOW. March 7 (Interfax) - OPEC+ reached the decision to begin a partial recovery as of April owing to the beginning of seasonal growth in demand, and U.S. President Donald Trump's call to reduce prices did not affect the decision, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters.
Novak also said that the decision did not have a strong effect on oil prices, since it was actually reached back in December and only confirmed in early March. "It seems to me that there is not the volatility that could have been, because the schedules for partial recovery in production were reached long ago in December, and the market took this into account," he said.
"This [decision to increase] is primarily owing to the fact that this can only be done during periods of increased demand, and we are entering the spring-summer period of growth in demand, as auto transportation recovers, so there is an opportunity [to recover]," Novak explained.
"After all, voluntary decisions were still urgent in nature, and they need to be recovered at some point. You see that the price is not very volatile," he said.
Answering whether Trump's calls for Saudi Arabia and OPEC to reduce prices or Kazakhstan's transgression of production commitments affected the OPEC+ decision, Novak said that it was "purely an OPEC+ decision."
"We considered this earlier. Recovery was supposed to start last year. It was postponed several times. No, these are purely decisions of the countries that are part of OPEC+," he said.
Novak also recalled that OPEC+ has the ability to both cut and boost output. "In this case, there is expediency, increased demand, to restore partially. However, we will monitor. If there is an imbalance in the market, then we could always play in the other direction," he said.
Commenting on the prospects of altering the decision before April, Novak said that the decision needs to be reached at least a month in advance, because April production and export volumes are already being nominated.
He did not comment on Kazakhstan's inability to fulfill its commitments and the potential "loosening of discipline within the alliance," noting that OPEC+ "proceeds from the fact that everyone must fulfill the commitments fully, and each contribution must be proportionally equal, as is customary with existing quotas."
Novak also said that the recent decision on the part of the OPEC+ "volunteers" includes the recommendation for countries that have overproduced to consider the possibility of compensating earlier than stipulated by the schedules.
Eight OPEC+ countries are cutting production by another 2.2 million bpd in addition to their quotas. A decision was reached in December to begin a monthly recovery from April to September 2026 at approximately 130,000-140.000 bpd per month. Representatives of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman confirmed the corresponding decision on March 3.
