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Russia says no need for OPEC+ to make hasty decisions over new COVID-19 variant

OPEC+ will closely monitor the market situation amid rising fears over the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant, but urgent decisions by the group are not necessary, Russia’s deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said Nov. 29.

The alliance is set to meet Dec. 2 to decide on January production levels amid a US -led attempt to lower prices by releasing stocks and fears over new lockdowns due to the new COVID-19 strain.

The rapidly spreading variant caused Dated Brent to plunge 11% on the day to $73.27/b on Nov. 26, according to S&P Global Platts assessment.

“The emergence of a new variant always causes such market assessments, because various restrictive measures can be taken by the governments of different countries,” Novak told reporters on the sidelines of the Russian-Chinese energy business forum, as quoted by Prime news agency.

“We need to monitor how the situation develops, we must carefully monitor the market. There is no need to make hasty decisions,” Novak said.

The alliance pushed back the meeting of the OPEC+ ministerial monitoring committee to Dec. 2 to study the market situation in detail, Novak said.

At the same time, Russia does not see any need for urgent action by the OPEC+ alliance in light of rising concerns about the pandemic and there are no proposals by other OPEC+ countries to revise strategy or increase output.

“We will additionally discuss the market situation and the need for measures with the OPEC + countries,” Novak said. “The JMMC was rescheduled in order to work out everything in detail, to get more information about current events, including on a new variant of the virus.”

So far, the dynamics of global oil reserves studied weekly by the alliance “are still normal,” he said.

The JMMC will now be held Dec. 2, followed by a meeting of OPEC ministers and then non-OPEC countries, including Russia, later in the day.
Source: Platts

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