He said that OPEC+ did not expect oil shortages on the global oil markets after production cuts, as had been predicted by the International Energy Agency (IEA) which said the cuts risked exacerbating an oil supply deficit expected in the second half of the year. "My opinion is that now the market is balanced, taking into account the decisions made earlier, taking into account our reduction, the reductions that we saw in other countries," Novak said. Russia was able to keep up its oil production and exports thanks to its ability to ramp up sales of its energy products outside of Europe, its traditional supply market for oil and gas, following severe Western sanctions against Moscow over Ukraine. Novak said that Russia will divert to Asia 140 million tonnes of oil and oil products this year, which had previously been directed for Europe. He added that Russia will supply between 80 million tonnes and 90 million tonnes of oil and oil products to the West in 2023. (Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Bernadette Baum)
@vsoldatkin;)) (Corrects conversion of 515 million tonnes to 10.3 million
barrels per day, not 10.3 million tonnes in fourth para)
By Olesya Astakhova
MOSCOW, April 27 (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Prime
Alexander Novak said on Thursday that OPEC+ group of leading oil
producers does not see the need for further oil output cuts
despite lower-than-expected Chinese demand, though the
organisation is always able to tweak its policy.
He also said that Russia reached the targeted level of its
oil output this month after announcing production cuts of
500,000 barrels per day, or 5% of its oil output, until the
year-end.
Russia is part of the OPEC+ group of producer countries
which announced combined cuts of around 1.16 million bpd in a
surprise move earlier this month that the United States
described as unwise.
Novak said that Russian oil and gas condensate production is
expected to decline to around 515 million tonnes (10.3 million
barrels per day) this year from 535 million tonnes in 2022,
broadly in line with Reuters' report this week.
Asked if the group needed to cut its oil production further
amid falling oil prices, Novak said: "Well, no, of course not.
Because we only made a decision (on reduction) a month ago, and
it will come into force from May for those countries that have
joined."
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