Novak says possibly no need to extend OPEC+ deal if mkt balanced

ST. PETERSBURG, Apr 9 (PRIME) -- There will be no need to extend the OPEC+ oil production cut agreement if the forecast for the second half of the year is a balanced market, a decision will be made in June, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday.

“The agreement is valid until July 1, in June we will meet and based on market estimates we will discuss what possible further steps there could be. If the market is indeed to be balanced in the second half of the year, there will be no need to extend the agreement. There are no decisions now, we can only make assumptions,” he said.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund’s (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev said on Monday that OPEC+ could decide to abolish the oil production cut agreement in June and raise oil output.

In November 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC states including Russia first agreed to reduce their oil output to rebalance the market. In December 2018, the participants of the deal decided to cut production by an additional 800,000 barrels per day for OPEC and 400,000 barrels per day for non-OPEC states, including 230,000 barrels per day for Russia, from the level of October 2018.

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