Russia to Decide on Extending Oil Curbs
Russian Oil Minister Igor Yusufov said Moscow would decide whether to extend its current curbs on oil exports into the second quarter during a visit to Moscow this week by OPEC chiefs.
Russia has come under heavy pressure from the OPEC oil producers’ cartel to keep exports down and help boost flagging prices but faces demands at home to ease the curbs to release a growing flood of oil on the domestic market.
Yusufov has said that Russia wanted oil prices to be in the range of $20 to $25 per barrel.
OPEC Secretary General Ali Rodriguez and President Rilwanu Lukman arrived over the weekend for the talks in Moscow, hoping to secure an extension of Russia’s 5% cut in oil exports.
Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter, is one of five independent producers that pledged late last year to cooperate with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to curb oil supplies to prevent prices from crashing during the economic downturn.
Oil prices Friday hit a six-month high after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, and Yusufov said the aim now was to keep prices stable and ensure OPEC and non-OPEC members made good on pledges to curb exports.
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