MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. The Kremlin has stayed silent on the recent letter by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin to President Vladimir Putin, which was critical of the OPEC+ deal, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"As for the official note, we did not comment on it, nor will we do so," Peskov explained to reporters. Moreover, he did not specify when Sechin had conveyed his letter to Putin.
On February 10, Vedomosti wrote, citing sources, that according to Rosneft’s CEO, the parties to the OPEC+ deal on cutting oil output, created a preferential advantage for the United States, while posing a strategic threat to developing Russia’s oil sector. He disclosed this opinion in his letter to Putin in late December, the newspaper said.
In Tuesday’s Q&A session with reporters, Peskov said that the Russian president has remained firm in his stance on how effective Moscow’s participation in the OPEC+ deal was.
"This topic has been repeatedly hashed over with our international partners. In Buenos Aires, at a meeting with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, it was also discussed in a positive way. The president spoke about the effectiveness of this endeavor in terms of improving and stabilizing the situation on international markets, and on fossil fuel prices," the Kremlin spokesman said.
Peskov also noted that the aspect of formalizing relations under the OPEC + agreement is not on the Kremlin’s agenda.
"This has not been discussed yet. So far there have been no significant discussions about this," he emphasized.
The parties to the OPEC+ deal agreed to cut production starting in 2017. The agreement has been extended twice. In December 2018, the parties to the OPEC+ deal agreed to cut production by 1.2 mln barrels per day from the level of daily production in October 2018 in order to avoid an oversupply on the market due to rising US production and the easing of sanctions against Iran. Plans are that OPEC countries will cut production by 800,000 barrels per day, while the non-OPEC oil producers will follow suit by 400,000 barrels. Russia, in particular, will reduce production by 228,000 barrels per day. The deal covers the first half of 2019 and can be revised in April.