Russia’s Putin pushes for oil output freeze deal

MOSCOW, Sep 2 (PRIME) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that an oil output freeze would be a correct decision for the global energy and hopes that oil producers will reach relevant agreements, he said in an interview with Bloomberg released on Friday.

“From the viewpoint of economic sense and logic, then it would be correct to find some sort of compromise,” Putin said. “I am confident that everyone understands that. We believe that this is the right decision for world energy,” he said.

OPEC plans to hold an informal meeting in Algeria on September 26–28.

“I would very much like to hope that every participant of this market that’s interested in maintaining stable and fair global energy prices will in the end make the necessary decision,” Putin said.

Putin also said that Iran, which has almost restored oil output after a three-year suspension due to trade sanctions, deserves to return to the market.

“Iran is starting from a very low position, connected with the well-known sanctions in relation to this country,” Putin said. “It would be unfair to leave it on this sanctioned level.”

Speaking about other issues, Putin said that privatization of a 19.5% stake in oil major Rosneft can take place this year if the government manages to find strategic investors.

“The Russian government has no need to hold such large stakes and we are committed to carrying out our plans,” Putin said. “The question isn’t whether we want to or not, the question is whether it makes sense or not and at what moment,” he said.

Oil major Rosneft possibly buying oil company Bashneft is probably not the best option, but in terms of the budget it is important which investor will offer more money, Putin said.

“Probably, this is not the best option, when one state-controlled company buys another state company. This is one position. And the second one is that it is important for the budget who will offer more money at the auction, which should be organized during the privatization process,” he said. “And in this sense we can’t discriminate participants of the market.”

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