Russia’s Energy Minister Novak has announced that it may take up to 5 months for a joint decision to emerge from global oil producers on any restrictions over production. The restrictions, which will remain in operation for the entirety of 2018, were put in place by a common decision last year by oil producers, who are expected to follow the petroleum market in the meanwhile and make a new decision to adopt a new strategy if need be. Novak argued that it is now time for the deal to take one further step and for the real target to finally be determined by OPEC and its allies, rather than aiming to draw the global stocks back to its 5-year average. Novak’s statement came just after rising expectations for US production to rapidly increase with the impact of rising oil prices. With Russia and Saudi Arabia looking into extending this cooperation to wider sectors, it seems the cooperation will not remain limited to this year. – Financial Times

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