Business

Russia’s Novak sees global oil deficit

20-Russia-Novak
 
20-Russia-Novak
MOSCOW: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak (pictured) said on Wednesday there was an oil deficit on the global market even though some countries were recording a growing number of Covid-19 cases.

“There definitely is a deficit on the market which helps to reduce an (oil stocks) excess left from last year, to gradually bring it to the level of a five-year average,” Novak told reporters.

“The oil prices are stable ... meaning that the market is balanced with a slight excess of demand oversupply.”

Brent crude was 1.9 per cent down on Wednesday to $67.42 a barrel hit by renewed demand concerns as coronavirus cases in Asia rise but the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries expects a strong recovery in demand in 2021 due to growth in China and the United States.

Opec and its allies, known as Opec+, agreed in April to gradually ease oil output cuts from May. Its next meeting is set for June 1. — Reuters