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Russia to restore oil output by 85% this February - deputy PM

Alexander Novak added that Russia complied with the deal by 97% in November

MOSCOW, January 4. /TASS/. Russia will restore oil production by 85% in 2022 from the maximum reduction level in May-June 2020 as part of the OPEC+ agreement, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in a televised interview with Russia-24 news channel on Tuesday after the OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting.

The Ministerial Meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and some other countries, which are called OPEC+, decided on Tuesday to increase output by 400,000 barrels per day for February.

"For Russia, it means that in February we will reach 85% in the production recovery from the maximum reduction level we had in May and June 2020. That is, we will restore 1.7 million barrels per day," he said.

Novak added that Russia complied with the deal by 97% in November.

"As for Russia’s compliance with the deal in November, the level was 97%. As before, we are almost 100% compliant with our commitments," he noted.

Results of OPEC+ meeting

Tuesday’s OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting lasted half an hour to approve the output increase by 400,000 barrels per day in February.

OPEC+ oil exporters presume that the oil market is balanced, say the conclusions of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, made available to TASS on Tuesday. However, they expect the market to shift toward surplus and oil inventories to grow after Quarter 1 of 2022.

In February, OPEC+ countries will cut output by only 2.959 million barrels per day, but not by 9.5 million barrels per day as in May 2020.

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