MOSCOW, September 5. /TASS/. OPEC+ countries do not form any oil price by their decisions, but balance the market, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

"We have a flexible tool. We have a rational approach to how to balance the market. And the main thing here is that it is not about setting some kind of price, but about the sufficiency of supply for the market. [To ensure that] on the one hand, there is no surplus, on the other hand, there was no shortage," he said.

Novak also added that so far oil demand is still recovering relative to pre-pandemic levels.

"We expect that at the beginning of next year we will reach the corresponding indicators - above 100 million barrels per day of oil demand. We are working on it, we continue to interact to reach this level smoothly," the Deputy Prime Minister added.

At the OPEC+ meeting on September 5, the alliance members approved a reduction in oil production in October by 100,000 barrels per day. According to the final communique, the OPEC+ countries will revert to the production level of August 2022. The document stresses that that the upward adjustment of 0.1 mb/d to the production level was only intended for September 2022.

The ministers of the OPEC + countries also agreed to hold alliance meetings at any time in order to respond to the market situation. The next OPEC+ meeting is scheduled for October 5th.