Novak: OPEC+ sees demand recovery, watches COVID environ in Asia

MOSCOW, Apr 27 (PRIME) -- The OPEC+ members see optimism on the global crude market and positive demand dynamics, but finds it necessary to watch the spread of the coronavirus disease in Asia, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday.

“We can see optimism on the market, the dynamics of people’s mobility is also positive, and there is recovery of demand in the largest oil consuming countries. At the same time, we need to watch carefully the situation, including the spread of the coronavirus infection especially in Asia,” he said.

Novak also said that fulfilment of previous agreements is still the alliance’s key task.

The OPEC+ ministerial monitoring committee recommended retaining the current deal conditions in May–July, a source with one of the delegations told PRIME after the committee’s meeting, which took place on Tuesday.

The source also said that the OPEC+ cancelled a general meeting of the heads of all the delegations.

The OPEC+ countries agreed to reduce their oil output by 9.7 million barrels per day in May 2020 to fight the consequences of the global coronavirus pandemic, with Russia’s share of 2.5 million barrels per day. The cut was narrowed to 7.7 million barrels per day for August–December 2020, and then to 5.8 million barrels per day.

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