MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. Ministers of OPEC member-states will discuss execution of the agreement on crude production cut on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week to be held in Moscow and St. Petersburg on 3-7 October, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Tuesday.
"We will discuss the state of the market and the current situation regarding monitoring and execution of the crude production deal with our colleagues at the Russian Energy Week," he said.
According to Novak, more than half of ministers of OPEC member-states are expected to participate in Russian Energy Week. "Around 30 ministers have confirmed participation, maybe even more. More than half of OPEC ministers will arrive, ministers from Algeria, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and some other countries have already confirmed that they will participate," Novak said, adding that bilateral meetings are also expected.
The mechanism of monitoring oil exports of participants of the crude production cut deal between OPEC and non-OPEC nations is not yet ready, the Minister said, adding that the issue will be discussed on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week as well.
"At the latest meeting we agreed to monitor oil exports. This is a new instrument, which has not been clearly formed yet, which is why I think it will be one of the main issues on the discussion agenda from the viewpoint of export control mechanism," he said.
In late 2016, OPEC member-states and 11 independent oil-exporting countries entered into an agreement to reduce oil production. According to that agreement, during the first half of 2017 the participants were to withdraw 1.8 million barrels per day from the oil market in comparison with the level of October 2016.
In May 2017, at the meeting in Vienna, the countries extended the agreement until April 2018, maintaining the previous quotas for all participants. The purpose of the agreement is to reduce global oil reserves to the average level of the last five years.