MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/. The consequences of the coronavirus pandemic will lead to more massive shocks than the financial crisis of 2008-2009, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak stressed at a meeting of the G20 energy ministers on Friday.
"Restoring stability to the energy market and ensuring energy security are the keys to solving multifaceted problems, including those related to health care, well-being and safety margins at all stages of overcoming the crisis," he said.
"Of course, this requires effective response measures. Our task is to protect the interests of our citizens and fulfill the instructions of the leaders of our countries contained in the statements of the G20 group on the need for collective action to eliminate the outbreak of infections and its economic and social consequences," the Russian Energy Minister said.
The meeting of the G20 energy ministers held via videoconferencing on Friday became the extension of the OPEC+ online conference held on Thursday.
On Friday night, OPEC+ countries agreed to cut oil production by 10 mln barrels per day in May-June. Production restrictions will stay in place until May 2022, but to a lesser extent. According to the OPEC + plan, each of the 23 participating countries should reduce production by 23% in comparison with the level of production of October 2018. The exceptions are Russia and Saudi Arabia. These two countries will reduce production on equal terms from 11 million bpd to 8.5 million bpd. The final conclusion of the transaction was prevented by the position of Mexico, which refused to reduce production by the proposed 400,000 bpd, but agreed to do it only by 100,000 bpd.