OPEC, non-OPEC countries agree to monitor oil exports - Novak
MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax) - OPEC and non-OPEC countries have agreed to monitor not only oil production but oil exports as well, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told journalists.
"At our last meeting we agreed to monitor oil exports too. This is a new instrument and new data which will be included in our monitoring. We haven't yet developed the algorithms for how to do this, so I think that it will be one of the main areas of discussion from the point of view of a mechanism to monitor exports of oil and oil products," he said.
Novak said that mechanisms for monitoring oil exports would be developed in the framework of energy week, which is taking place in Moscow.
He also said that oil ministers from OPEC and non-OPEC countries would discuss proposals on the future fate of the deal to cut oil output during talks in the Russian capital this week.
"We will discuss issues [of possibly extending the deal]. We constantly discuss these during bilateral and multilateral dealings. But if we talk about a formal approach, we have a structured format of the monitoring committee which meets once or twice a month," Novak said.
"Right now the main task is to fulfill market conditions, the level of demand, declining inventories and the sector's investment appeal. We are of course discussing various scenarios and mechanisms which could be used if it becomes necessary to balance the market," the minister said.
"In terms of ministers, I already said that we have around thirty confirmed, maybe even more ministers. Over half of the ministers will be from countries representing OPEC, the ministers of Algeria, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and a few other countries which are part of OPEC," Novak said.
"We will definitely have the opportunity to discuss not just current trends and the state of the market, but also hold bilateral meetings to discuss the development of our relations in the field of energy," he said.