Russia maintaining own level of oil production; no goal to impact market artificially - deputy energy minister
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax) - Russia is maintaining its own level of oil production, the country's Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin said in an interview with RBC TV.
"Russia is not at war with anyone, and we are guided exclusively in this situation by economic common sense and a calculated position. Yes, we are particularly held hostage by the international situation, meaning that the situation with the coronavirus has hit everyone," he said.
"However, we have not taken any action and will not take any action to impact prices artificially, because we have our own production level, which we are maintaining. Our production in Europe and in our key markets in Asia is one of the most competitive, and here we just have a natural advantage in the form of logistics and well-developed infrastructure," Sorokin said.
He emphasized once again that as of April 1, when the OPEC+ production-restriction deal expires, "Russian oil companies will be guided by common sense in terms of whether it makes economic sense."
"Our goal is not to impact the market artificially and increase production just for the sake of raising production. It makes sense to earn money from this," Sorokin said.