Min says Russia has no plans to meet on Nov 30 before OPEC

MOSCOW, Nov 24 (PRIME) -- Russia does not plan to participate in discussion of oil market stabilization measures on November 30 in Vienna before an OPEC ministerial meeting, as it is waiting for the current expert consultations to finish, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Thursday.

“We don’t know when the consultations will end, and only then a decision on the date of the meeting will be made…We are in a constant contact on the matter, we are working on that, but we see no reason to speak about any meetings until expert consultations are finished,” he said.

Bloomberg reported citing sources that OPEC will hold a meeting with Russia and other non-OPEC members on November 30 before the meeting of ministers of OPEC states.

Novak said OPEC offered all non-OPEC countries to cut their oil production by about 500,000 barrels a day in order to stabilize the oil market. But Novak confirmed Russia’s position that it is ready to freeze oil production at the current level.

OPEC agreed to limit daily oil output at 32.5–33.0 million barrels at an informal meeting in Algeria in September. The ceilings for each country will be defined at the meeting on November 30 in Vienna. President Vladimir Putin said earlier that Russia is ready to join OPEC in a freeze of oil production if an agreement is reached.

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