ALGIERS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) Russia has a potential to step up its oil output by several hundred thousand barrels per day, but will be guided in its decisions by the interests of the balanced oil market, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday.
"There is an opportunity to restore [the previous] production level, and there is an opportunity to step it up. First of all, it is up to companies to devise [relevant] investment plans if they see long-term trends in the market. I think [the potential boost may total] several hundred thousand barrels," Novak told reporters on the sidelines of the JMMC meeting in Algiers.
The minister however stressed that "much would depend on the situation on the market."
When asked whether Russia was planning to increase its oil output to the October 2016 level, the period when the OPEC and non-OPEC producers undertook oil output cut obligations as part of the Vienna deal, he said that much would depend on the market, stressing Russia's interest in the balanced situation on it.
In 2016, OPEC and several non-OPEC oil producers, including Russia, agreed to cut output by a total of 1.8 million barrels per day in an effort to stabilize global oil prices. The agreement, which came into effect in 2017, has been extended twice since then and will remain in force until the end of 2018. In late June, the OPEC and non-OPEC producers agreed to increase production by a combined 1 million barrels per day.
