UPDATE: Novak says Russian oil always in demand, to find customers

(Rewrites throughout)

MOSCOW, Dec 6 (PRIME) -- Russian oil has always been demanded and will find its customers, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Tuesday.

“Russian oil is demanded on the global market, the oil will find its customers. Russia is one of the world’s largest oil suppliers to the global energy markets. … Russian oil has always been demanded, and it will be in the future. The logistics mechanisms and chains will change, but we see no tragedy in the situation,” Novak said.

Novak added that Russia is working with smaller oil traders and is using new insurance schemes.

According to Novak, introduction of the West’s price cap on Russian oil can lead to lower investment in the industry globally and therefore to higher prices.

“We will not accept those mechanisms that have been introduced as a restriction of prices in an artificial, non-market way, as setting of prices by customer countries,” he said.

Russia can reduce oil production because of current uncertainty, but only slightly, he also said.

“We do not rule out that in case of necessity we can have situations linked to periods of lower crude production, because the situation is uncertain. The volatility is heavy today. I do not think that the volumes will be large, but we cannot rule it out,” he said.

Russia’s production of oil and gas condensate rose by 2.2% to 488 million tonnes in January–November, Novak also said.

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