UPDATE: Russian minister says oil market well balanced now

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BEIJING/MOSCOW, Nov 7 (PRIME) -- The oil market is well balanced now, but it is necessary to estimate demand and production forecast taking into account the U.S.’ incentives on imports of Iranian oil, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters Wednesday.

The Energy Ministry and oil companies are still working out Russia’s position over oil production ahead of the OPEC+ committee meeting in Abu Dhabi, he said.

“There is no position, we are so far developing it with our colleagues. Now I think that the market is well balanced,” Novak said.

“We should see how the situation will develop. We need to forecast what will be with demand of the fourth quarter and the first quarter and what forecasts on oil production are in other countries,” he said.

The U.S. additional sanctions against Iran, which affected oil exports, took force on Monday. U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that Washington is providing temporary exemptions from oil sanctions to China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey.

Sources in the oil industry told PRIME that Novak plans to meet with representatives of Russian oil companies on Thursday to discuss further actions on the OPEC+ deal.

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