Russian min says oil price fall driven by panic over coronavirus crisis

VLADIKAVKAZ, Feb 4 (PRIME) -- The recent downward slide of oil prices can be panic-driven amid coronavirus concerns, and the situation has to be assessed before making any decisions under the OPEC plus non-member agreement on oil production cut, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Tuesday.

“I’m not ready to speak about specific suggestions…it’s important to assess the situation and assess the correct forecasts. There is much uncertainty, perhaps, there is a panic,” he said.

The technical committee is now considering an OPEC report on the oil market situation and a decision on whether to hold an extraordinary meeting of the deal’s participants will be made after the committee analyzes the influence of the coronavirus crisis on the oil market, Novak said.

“Works in Vienna continue today at these hours, we have sent our experts there, a meeting of the Joint Technical Committee is taking place, which means that the working group is at the meeting and is considering a report of OPEC on the current situation, about the forecasts,” he said.

The consideration will continue for two more days, he added. “If there is a need, we are ready to hold a corresponding meeting between all of us and discuss (the issue) at the level of ministers,” he said, adding that it’s too early to speak about specific dates of a possible extraordinary meeting.

Ministerial meetings to discuss the deal’s future were previously scheduled for March 5–6 in Vienna.

In November 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC states including Russia first decided to reduce their oil output to rebalance the market, and agreed on additional reduction in December 2018. In July 2019, they prolonged the deal until April 2020. According to the latest amendments, the agreement stipulates a production cut by 2.1 million barrels per day.

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