Russia’s Novak: Current oil prices are appropriate

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that current oil prices adequately reflect the current market situation, while global demand for oil is widely expected to rise by about two million barrels per day.

According to Reuters, Novak refused to address further details just one day before an important meeting of the most important ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, led by Russia, within the framework of the OPEC+ group, remotely.

The ministers, who form the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, can call the full OPEC+ meeting or make policy recommendations.

OPEC+ sources said last week that the group will likely decide its oil production levels for April and beyond in the coming weeks, while it is too early for Thursday’s meeting to make decisions on other production policies.

“The market needs silence,” Novak told reporters. “Any comment affects the market in one way or another.” “I want to say that the current market price adequately reflects the current situation.”

Brent crude futures for March delivery, which expire on Wednesday, fell 0.34 percent to $82.59 a barrel by 0850 GMT. The most actively traded April contract fell 24 cents to $82.26.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency, which advises oil-consuming countries, forecast earlier this month that global consumption would rise by 1.24 million barrels per day in 2024. This is the third consecutive upward revision in months but less than the 2.25 million barrels per day expected by OPEC.

Novak also said that there are currently no talks with either Ukraine or the European Union regarding extending the Russian gas transportation agreement, which expires at the end of 2024.

Under the five-year agreement agreed between Moscow and Kiev in 2019, Russia exports gas to Europe via Ukraine and pays Ukraine for use of its pipeline network.