MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On Tuesday, the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela held talks with Russia in the Qatari capital of Doha, where they agreed to freeze their average monthly oil output in 2016 at January 11 levels. However, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak noted that the move was contingent on other oil producers doing likewise.
"We have a tendency toward [oil] production growth, and we can maintain this trend. We have reached agreements with OPEC to keep production at January's level. As of January 11, the increase in production was 1.9 percent," the deputy minister told reporters.
There is a possibility of boosting production by exploring new untapped gas reserves, he noted.
On December 11, Molodtsov said Russia's oil output would reach 533.6 million metric tons in 2015.
