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World oil prices

Russia poised to strike deal on larger output cut, says energy chief

OPEC+ ministers are hashing over the possibility of cutting oil production in 2019 at meetings on December 5-7 in Vienna

© Yegor Aleev/TASS

VIENNA, December 7. /TASS/. Russia is set to reach an agreement on a bigger cut in crude production, Energy Minister Alexander Novak who just arrived at the OPEC secretariat for the ministerial meeting told reporters.

"We will try to come to an agreement," Novak said when asked whether Russia is ready to discuss capping production.

According to Reuters, Russia could agree to reduce crude output by 200,000 barrels per day.

Read also

Novak on future of OPEC+ deal: Current price range comfortable for all

OPEC+ ministers are hashing over the possibility of cutting oil production in 2019 at meetings on December 5-7 in Vienna, in order to avoid a surge in supply because of rising output in the US and Trump’s waivers on the new anti-Iran sanctions.

The conference of OPEC members ended without any particular agreements after lasting for six hours on Thursday, though the main scenario for all OPEC+ participants is to reduce production by 1 mln barrels per day. October 2018 has been preliminarily set as the benchmark month to be used for the reduction.

On Thursday, setting individual quotas for OPEC countries and the issue of exemptions for such countries as Iran, Venezuela (both under sanctions), as well as Libya and Nigeria (both were allowed not to reduce output in 2017) turned out to be a sticking point, participants of the OPEC meeting told TASS.

The position of Russia, which is represented by Energy Minister Novak, is in the spotlight of media outlets reporting from meetings of the oil ministers in Vienna.

The cooperation agreement widely known as the OPEC+ deal, expires this year. Meanwhile, it is anticipated that today the ministers are going to sign a new charter with no fixed term that will seal cooperation starting on January 1, 2019.

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Oil & Gas Alexander Novak Oil price

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