Russia’s Novak expects no hasty OPEC+ decisions this month

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak does not expect any hasty decisions on output cuts when an OPEC+ group monitoring committee meets next week as the oil market has been stable, Russian news agencies reported.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, have been cutting output since May by around 10% of typical global demand to tackle the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last month, the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) a ministerial advisory panel to OPEC+, decided to ease the cuts beginning this month to around to 7.7 million barrels per day (bpd) until December from a previous reduction of 9.7 million bpd.

Novak said there have been no additional proposals to change the deal among OPEC+ producers, the reports said.

“I think no-one is putting forward any hasty moves, additional proposals,” he said. “The market is more or less stable and we are seeing gradual balancing.”

The JMMC is scheduled to convene next week against the backdrop of an oil price recovery to above $45 a barrel from a 21-year low of below $16 in April.