Russian Energy Minister Says Oil Will Hardly Cost More Than $100 Per Barrel

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday that oil prices will likely grow in the wake of the Vienna output reduction deal, but won't reach the levels seen before 2014.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Novak said global oil prices were unlikely to reach the level seen prior to the 2014 slump, in an interview following a deal on Thursday with OPEC oil exporters.

"With the implementation of our joint efforts… prices could be at a level today several times higher than they currently are but it is unlikely in the next few years that they will reach the levels we had three years ago," Novak told the CNBC news channel.

Novak was speaking after a summit of OPEC and 11 non-cartel oil producers in Vienna where energy ministers had agreed to extend the existing oil output cuts by nine months. Oil prices reportedly slipped 5 percent on the news that no deeper cuts were expected.

Crude oil traded as high as $115 per barrel before summer 2014 when overproduction saw prices plunge to $36 by the end of 2015 and as low as $30 the following year, hurting economies that rely on oil exports for budget revenues.

The world’s major oil producers, led by OPEC’s Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia, agreed last November to cut output to remove a total of 1.8 million barrels a day from the market and extended their commitments past this June on Thursday. A joint ministerial monitoring committee will meet in Moscow in July to assess the implementation of the deal.