Russia Closely Watching Oil Prices Volatility - Kremlin Spokesman

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2018) Oil exporting countries, as well as consumer states, including Russia, are closely watching the volatility of oil prices, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

"You are asking a very tricky question to which no one will answer directly. The price of oil is a volatile substance, and everyone is watching this volatility closely, both exporting and consumer countries ... We are monitoring closely," he said, answering a question whether Russia believed it was time to announce a reduction in oil production due to lower prices.

The price of Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, has fallen more than a quarter off a four-year high of $86.74 per barrel reached on October 3. It has plummeted to a 50-week low of $61.71 on Tuesday, but has since rebounded to trade at $63.55 at 11.34 GMT Wednesday.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and several non-OPEC oil producers, including Russia, reached a deal in Vienna in 2016, agreeing to cut oil output by a total of 1.

8 million barrels per day in an effort to stabilize global oil prices. Non-OPEC states pledged to jointly reduce oil output by 558,000 barrels per day. The agreement, which came into effect in 2017, has been extended twice since then and is expected to remain in force until the end of 2018.

On November 11, a meeting of the OPEC and non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee was held in Abu Dhabi. The participants examined a report compiled by the OPEC secretariat that called for a decrease in the current level of oil production. While it also acknowledged the possible threat of excess oil production in 2019, it did not recommend cutting production, favoring continued observation of the oil market instead.