Minister: Russia favors prolongation of oil output reduction deal

MOSCOW, May 4 (PRIME) -- Russia is at an advanced stage of negotiations with its partners in an oil output reduction agreement and tends to prolong it after expiration in July, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Thursday.

“We are at a final stage of negotiations on this topic with our partners and we are inclined to its prolongation,” Novak said.

Russia is about to finish the assessment of the global oil market situation, he said. “Our analysis shows that reduction of excessive commercial stocks on the market is advancing at quite a good pace, and the reserves in floating storages, tankers, have fallen by about a half.”

OPEC states agreed to reduce their oil production by 1.2 million barrels daily to 32.5 million barrels in November 2016. Russia joined the agreement in December with a promise to cut output by 300,000 barrels daily compared with the level of October 2016. The agreement was concluded for January–June 2017 with potential prolongation.

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