ST. PETERSBURG, May 25. /TASS/. Relaxation of oil production restrictions within the framework of the OPEC+ oil production capping agreement can start from the third quarter of 2018, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"We will discuss the need to ease the restrictions level. It can be said that it should star from the third quarter - this is the second half of the year," the minister said.

OPEC+ countries agreed to reduce production from the beginning of 2017 by 1.8 mln barrels of oil per day against the level of October 2016. Over the past seven months, the plan has been overfulfilled, including through reducing production in Venezuela and several countries in Africa.

The agreement on the reduction of oil production between 24 countries has been in effect since January 2017 and has already been extended twice. According to the terms, the participants should reduce production by 1.8 mln barrels per day (against October 2016, taken as the base level). Currently the agreement is valid until the end of 2018.