The planned increase of crude production by OPEC+ nations of 1.5 million barrels per day may only cover Q3 2018, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday.
"First, the issue is about raising [production] only for the third quarter and in September monitoring the market situation and deciding what should be done accordingly," he was quoted as saying by TASS. The minister added that Q3 is expected to see growth in oil demand, because of which such proposals on production growth are reasonable.
"We should provide all with equal possibilities. I think it will be fair to distribute volumes in proportion to reduction quotas," he said. According to Novak, what is being considered is a production increase of 1.5 million barrels per day starting July 1, not reduction of the current quota from 1.8 million barrels to 1.5 million barrels, as some media outlets reported last week.
"We meant an increase of 1.5 million bpd," he said.
At the end of 2016, OPEC and 11 independent oil exporting countries, including Russia, entered into an agreement to reduce oil production.
Based on the agreement, during the first half of 2017, the participants had to withdraw 1.8 million bpd from the oil market against the level of October 2016. Russia pledged to reduce oil production by 300,000 barrels per day.
At the meeting in Vienna, Austria, in May 2017, the countries extended the agreement until April 2018, retaining the previous quotas for all participants. The purpose of the agreement is to reduce global oil reserves to five-year average levels.
On June 22-23, OPEC + participants will meet in Vienna to discuss options for the further implementation of the deal, including mitigation of the existing restrictions, as well as institutionalization and termless extension of the deal between OPEC and non-OPEC states.
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