OPEC-Non-OPEC Meeting in June to Address Figures for Oil Output Increase – Novak

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) - The meeting of the Joint OPEC-non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) in June will address the figures for the possible increase in the oil output within the Vienna deal among other issues, Russian Energy Minister Novak said on Friday.

“It is premature to talk about a specific figure, it must be carefully calculated… These figures will be discussed in late June, at the ministerial meeting,” Novak said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) session, commenting on the volume of possible increase in the oil production.

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The minister added that the gradual increase in the oil production within the framework of the OPEC-non-OPEC deal might begin in the third quarter of 2018.

The surplus of the global commercial oil reserves is close to zero at the moment, Russian Energy Minister Novak said.

"Last year, the reserves exceeded five-year figures by 323 barrels, today they are around zero, some estimates even say that they are at the level of minus 20 million barrels," Novak said.

In 2016, OPEC and several oil producing countries outside the cartel agreed to cut oil production by a total of 1.8 million barrels per day in an effort to stabilize global oil prices. Non-OPEC states pledged to jointly decrease oil output by 558,000 barrels per day, with Russia pledging to cut production by 300,000 barrels daily.

SPIEF, held annually in Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg, is a major global platform for communication between business representatives and the discussion of crucial economic issues. The event started on Thursday and will continue through Saturday. Sputnik is the official media partner of the forum.