26 May 2023 10:04

Russia to discuss what is best for market with OPEC+ partners, but stick to earlier decisions - Novak

MOSCOW. May 26 (Interfax) - OPEC+ countries plan to discuss the state of the market at their meeting in Vienna on June 4 and if necessary take new measures to balance the oil market, and Russia will take part in the discussion, but it will adhere to previously made decisions, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday.

"OPEC+ group meetings are intended for joint discussion of the state of the market and reaching a consensus on future actions that must be carried out to reach market balance. This is a systemic approach that will also be the basis of the OPEC+ meeting in June, where decisions could be made if necessary," Novak told reporters.

"Russia will participate in the discussion together with its partners in order to determine what is best for the market, while adhering to all previous decisions," Novak said.

The OPEC+ ministerial meeting scheduled for June 4 in Vienna will be the ministers' first face-to-face meeting since last October.

A few months ago, Russia announced that it would voluntarily reduce oil output by 500,000 barrels per day in March from the February level, and later it extended the cut to July and then until the end of the year. Novak said earlier that Russia reached the target level in May.

As of May 1, a number of OPEC+ countries joined Russia in cutting oil production, with output being reduced by 500,000 bpd in Saudi Arabia, 78,000 bpd in Kazakhstan, 211,000 bpd in Iraq, 144,000 bpd in the United Arab Emirates, 128,000 bpd in Kuwait, 48,000 bpd in Algeria, 40,000 bpd in Oman and 8,000 bpd in Gabon. As a result, the overall output cut will be about 1.657 million bpd, or 1.2 million bpd without Russia. The countries intended to keep production at this level until the end of 2023.

In an interview with Izvestia published on May 25, Novak said he does not see any reasons for OPEC+ countries to take any new steps at their upcoming meeting. "I don't think that there will be any new steps, because it was literally a month ago that certain decisions were made regarding the voluntary reduction of oil production by some countries because we saw slow rates of recovery of the global economy," Novak said. "Our job now is to monitor the situation on the market and promptly respond," he added.