Novak: Russia to resume oil output to 90% of pre-pandemic level

Novak said:

• For Russia it means that in March it will be able to additionally increase by 100,000 barrels per day again
• It will enable us to restore the level of reduced volume by 90%

Russia took 2 million barrels per day offline in May of 2020 as part of the efforts to restore balance to the oil markets that were saturated with inventory, with prices dipping into negative territory.

Novak said that 1.8 million barrels per day of this will be restored as early as in March, adding that Russia’s compliance has been «close» to 100%, even in December.
The March output schedule shows that Russia will be able to produce 10.331 million barrels per day on average - equal to Saudi Arabia’s share.

OPEC+’s over compliance with the production cut deal has generated skepticism in the market over the group’s future production abilities and accuracy of spare capacity figures.
In December, this compliance was at 122% - raising the question in a rather tight market whether OPEC+ can actually rise to meet demand if called upon.

As OPEC+ continues to ramp up production - albeit slowly - it is also using up its ability to respond to future demand increases that are likely to follow the pandemic.