Russia has finally agreed to help the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries boost the price of oil by offering to reduce its crude oil exports by 150 000 barrels a day.
Russia has finally agreed to help the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries boost the price of oil by offering to reduce its crude oil exports by 150 000 barrels a day.
“Given the current situation, Russian companies consider it possible to carry out a deeper reduction in the export of oil, which will reach 150 000 barrels a day from January 1 2002,” a Russian government spokesman said after prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov and leading oil companies met on Wednesday.
The country had initially offered to cut its production by 50 000 bpd, which was less than one per cent of its total production. The new offer is five per cent of its output.
Opec had said it was prepared to cut 1,5 million barrels a day of production from January to shore up the oil price, which has fallen since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. But the cutback was conditional on non-Opec members also cutting production by 500 000 bpd.
A Saudi oil ministry official said Russia’s offer was a “significant improvement”. Kuwait’s oil minister, Adel al-Sabeeh, said this meant that they were very close to the target of 500 000 bpd.
Of the other non-Opec members, Norway, has offered to cut between 100 000 and 200 000 bpd, Mexico has suggested it could cut about 100 000 bpd and Oman 40 000-50 000 bpd. Angola has offered to make a cut, but has not yet indicated an amount. Opec said it now had to get firm commitments from these countries.
