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Russia may revise oil production growth level under OPEC+ deal — minister

Russia plans to increase oil production by about 200,000 barrels per day as part of OPEC's decision to mitigate oil output restrictions

WASHINGTON, June 26. /TASS/. Russia plans to increase oil production by about 200,000 barrels per day as part of OPEC's decision to mitigate oil output restrictions, but this level may be adjusted after the redistribution of quotas between the countries, which are ready to increase production, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on the sidelines of a gas conference in Washington.

"About 200,000 barrels [a day] will be applied to Russia from these volumes. But we will see and we will adjust it on a monthly basis, because not all countries can increase their output. In this case proportional approach will be somewhat inapplicable because we all need to ensure a reduction in [production] to the level of 1.8 million barrels from 2.8 million barrels, we have today," the minister said.

According to him, 200,000 barrels is an "approximate figure."

"Today, we cannot define it only on the basis of the proportions of the reduction by each country. Not all countries can ensure the growth of production. So if we cannot reach [these level], based on a proportional increase, then we will agree with other countries how we can redistribute the remaining volumes," Novak added.

Earlier, the Russian minister said that only 8-10 countries participating in the OPEC + deal were capable to increase production.

According to sources of Bloomberg, Saudi Arabia plans to increase oil production to a record 10.8 million barrels per day in July, seeking to increase exports and contain rising commodity prices. According to data provided by Saudi Arabia in OPEC, in May, its production was 10.03 million barrels per day. The previous record was set in November 2016 - 10.72 million barrels per day.

At a meeting on June 23, the OPEC + countries decided to increase oil production within the OPEC+ deal by 1 mln barrels per day for the second half of 2018. They did not rule out that production levels can be revised again in September.

In fact, the participants of the deal will return to the initial figure (a decline in production by 1.8 million barrels per day), while in recent months production dropped by almost 3 million barrels per day (in May the deal on reduction of oil output was implemented by 150%).