Russia: No firm plans to coordinate oil output with OPEC

He said that the topic of discussion at the planned OPEC meeting in February with representatives of other oil-producing countries could be the question of oil production reducing for each producer country at the level of five percent, but a general agreement is needed for it.

But both contracts surged on Thursday after Russian reports that Energy Minister Alexander Novak had said Moscow was ready to take part in talks with OPEC to establish possible “coordination”.

Russia, the top non-OPEC producer has been struggling to cope with falling oil prices as it battles for market share with Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer. “After all, Iran and Iraq will soon be opening up new sources of supply which will pump additional oil onto the market”. Hints of a possible deal between Opec members and rival producers had already helped oil rally 4 percent on Tuesday.

Prices for a barrel of oil hit a three-week high and rose above a 12-year low set last week at $26.55 a barrel.

Rosneft’s chief executive Igor Sechin – who is widely thought of as the most important figure in Russia’s oil industry – has consistently argued that a government enforced supply cut in would not work because of the structure of the industry, and harsh winters in the country.

“We remain highly skeptical that such a meeting will result in credible cuts in supply; thus, we see this as nothing more than an attempt to shift market sentiment, and we do not expect that it will change the physical market imbalance”, Barclays said, referring to meetings between OPEC members and Russian Federation.

“Even if no major event happens but supply remains more resilient than expected and demand a bit weaker, we could still see prices drift lower”, Pugh said. “From our side, we have confirmed the possibility of our participation”, Novak said. USA crude is also set for nearly 6 percent weekly gain.

Brent had risen 35c to $34.24 a barrel by 4.29am GMT, after ending up 79c, or 2.4%, at $33.89 on Thursday, and is heading for its fourth consecutive session of gains.

The survey of 29 economists and analysts forecast benchmark North Sea Brent crude LCOc1 will average $42.5 a barrel, down $10 from last month’s poll.

Mr. Novak said there was no decision yet as to whether the meeting, proposed by Venezuela, would be attended by ministers or lower level officials.

Crude oil futures j immediately after the report, and were up 5.1% at $33.93 a barrel at the latest.