Russia may cut oil exports by 16 million tonnes, or 320,000 barrels a day, in 2009 if the oil price stays at current levels, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said at an OPEC meeting Wednesday, ITAR-TASS reported according to Prime-Tass.
Russia, which is the world's largest non-OPEC oil producer, wants to secure permanent observer status with OPEC, Sechin said.
During talks with OPEC leadership, Russia agreed to set up a working group between the OPEC Secretariat and the Russian Energy Ministry to develop a common approach to solving the most important issues in the oil industry, Sechin said. But Russia does not plan to join OPEC or to coordinate its output cuts with OPEC, he said.
Low oil prices may force Russian oil companies to decrease their investment in oil production, which may result in a sharper reduction of output in the future, Sechin also said.