It should not be taken for granted that the OPEC+ alliance needs to raise its monthly oil production more than currently planned, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, commenting on the U.S. call this weekend for more oil supplies to the market.
The refusal of OPEC+ to increase crude oil production is affecting America's working class, U.S. President Joe Biden said at a news conference following the G20 meeting in Rome this past weekend.
"I do think that the idea that Russia and Saudi Arabia and other major producers are not going to pump more oil so people can have gasoline to get to and from work, for example, is - is - is not - is not right," President Biden said on Sunday.
Commenting on the U.S. pressure on the OPEC+ leaders, Kremlin's spokesman Peskov said, as carried by TASS:
"Russia is a party to the OPEC+ agreements. We adhere to our obligations under these agreements. However, it is a flexible mechanism, and taking into account the infrastructural and situational changes, every time at a given moment, the situation is subject to revision and subsequent decisions. What these decisions will be - let's wait for the planned or extraordinary consultations, if necessary."
OPEC+ ministers are meeting on November 4 to decide the production quotas for December.
Some of the other participants in the OPEC+ deal-including top OPEC producer and the world's largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia-have already signaled they would rather keep the current pace of easing the cuts by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd).
OPEC+ needs to remain cautious with its approach to oil production adjustments despite rising prices, Saudi Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, told Bloomberg in an interview last week.
Two other major oil producers in the Middle East, Kuwait and Iraq, said earlier this week that they support plans for 400,000 bpd increase in production as an adequate and sufficient intervention to meet demand and balance the market.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More