Official: Russia confirms plan to cut oil output in 3–4 months

MOSCOW, Jan 17 (PRIME) -- Russia plans to reduce oil production in the framework of the OPEC plus nonmember deal as agreed -- in three to four months, Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin said during a business mission to Saudi Arabia late on Wednesday.

“Like (Energy Minister) Alexander Novak said at a meeting in Vienna in December, we will reach the target figure by April, in April. A normal technical process is going on, it is winter season yet, which means that the figures are somewhat fluctuating … January is not over, we are on the way to reaching the figures stated by Novak in December,” Sorokin said.

In December, Novak said that Russia will cut the production by 228,000 barrels per day in three months. In January, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih told CNBC that Russia is reducing the production slower than needed.

In November 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC states including Russia agreed to reduce their oil output to rebalance the market, then raised the production quotas. In December 2018, the participants of the deal decided to cut production again by 800,000 barrels per day for OPEC and 400,000 barrels per day for non-OPEC states, including 228,000 barrels per day for Russia, from the level of October 2018.

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