MALABO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th November, 2019) Russia does not consider it necessary to take into account the US presidential election, which will be held in November 2020, in its position on the possibility of extending the OPEC+ oil cut agreement, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, Omani Oil Minister Mohammed Rumhi said he favored extending the OPEC+ agreement until the end of 2020, as US presidential elections and future administration policies, including in trade issues, could create uncertainty for global oil demand. In September, Equatorial Guinea's Hydrocarbons Minister Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima told Sputnik that if US Donald Trump loses the 2020 election, US oil production would begin to fall rapidly, which would force OPEC to increase production to contain prices.
"We do not factor it in. First of all, we look at the supply-demand balance," Novak said on the sidelines of the summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), answering whether Russia takes US election into account.
Novak explained that political election procedures exist all over the world, and called into question the need to account for them all.
"The oil industry is more global, a lot of countries produce and consume. It is necessary to look at the overall trade and economic relations, at the economic growth," he concluded.
Novak said earlier on Friday that it would be advisable to talk about the extension of the OPEC+ deal closer to April.
OPEC+ started capping their outputs in 2017 to shore up slumping crude prices. It has since been repeatedly extended, and its conditions keep changing. For the first half of 2019, the combined production reduction was agreed in the amount of 1.2 million barrels per day from the October 2018 level. In July, OPEC+ extended the agreement on the same terms through March 2020.
