The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other large oil producers led by Russia have been seeking to cordinate their actions on world oil markets since 2016.
Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ oil producers earlier this
month announced further oil output cuts of more than one million
barrels per day after crude prices fell in March towards $70 a
barrel, the lowest in 15 months.
Novak said the group was not regulating oil prices but
rather was closely watching the balance of supply and demand.
"We do not say that we regulate prices. It is very important
that we are talking about the need for a balance of interests
between exporters and consumers," Novak told an event in Moscow.
He added that if OPEC+ had sought to increase crude prices
this would have played into the hands of producers supplying
cheaper oil.
"Therefore, it is a question of competition, a question of
how to work in the market, balancing between other competitive
energy sources and ensuring the stable operation of the
industry," he said.
Novak also said that the Russian energy sector, a key source
of state budget revenues, had successfully coped with severe
Western sanctions, imposed on it after Moscow launched what it
calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24,
2022.
He said that around a fifth of Russia's total oil exports
had been rerouted from Europe to other markets, mainly India and
China. Russia has also cut around a third of gas supplies to the
European Union.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Olesya Astakhova
Editing by Gareth Jones)
