MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. Russia reduced oil production by 97 thousand barrels per day on average against the level of October 2018, being the reference one in the OPEC+ oil production capping deal, The Ministry of Energy says on Friday citing Minister Alexander Novak.

Oil production declined by 145,000 barrels daily against December 2018, when the country reached the production peak.

Production of oil as of the end of February 2019 was 118,000 barrels per day lower than last October and 165,000 barrels per day lower than last December, the Ministry said. "Russia fully honors undertaken commitments in accordance with earlier stated plans of phased oil production cut by the end of this March," Novak said.

At the end of 2016, OPEC and 11 independent oil-exporting countries, including Russia, entered into an agreement to reduce oil production. According to the agreement, during the first half of 2017, the participants had to withdraw 1.8 mln barrels per day from the oil market against the level of October 2016 for reducing global oil reserves to five-year average levels. Since that time, the agreement has been extended several times.

In December 2018, OPEC+ countries decided to cut production by 1.2 mln barrels per day from the level of October 2018. It is planned that OPEC nations will reduce output by 800,000 barrels per day, while the remaining countries - by 400,000 barrels. In particular, Russia will cut production by 228,000 barrels per day. The deal covers the first half of 2019 and may be revised in April.