Russia, the world's top oil producer, sees the gap between global oil supply and demand narrowing gradually, the country's Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Turkey. He added that excessive oil supply could be eliminated in the second half of next year, Reuters reported. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was ready to hold consultations with Russia to assess the situation on the global oil market, Novak said, adding however that there was no common stance within OPEC regarding oil output cuts. In related news, Russia's First Deputy Natural Resources Minister Denis Khramov said on Monday that partnership between Russia's Rosneft and US firm ExxonMobil would be long-term. "I don't think that currently ... there is a search to replace Exxon," he told reporters when asked about the talks between Rosneft and Chinese firms on their possible participation in Rosneft's offshore Arctic projects. Rosneft has suspended drilling in Arctic Kara Sea in 2014 after Exxon withdrew from the project because of western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.
