Russia Says to Decide on Extending Oil Output Cuts

Russia will decide in April or May whether an agreement on global oil output cuts between members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers, set to end on June 31, should be extended, TASS news agency quoted Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak as saying on Saturday.

Novak also said that he planned to meet his Saudi Arabia counterpart Khalid al-Falih during an energy conference in Houston in March, Reuters reported.

OPEC producers have pledged to cut supplies by 1.2 million barrels per day through the first half of this year with non-OPEC producers such as Russia also pledging to chop output by nearly 600,000 bpd. The International Energy Agency said in its closely watched monthly report on Friday that OPEC's production fell by 1 million bpd to 32.06 million bpd in January compared with the previous month. This is equal to 90% of the planned cuts.