Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has announced that global oil output was cut by 1.4 million barrels per day last month, in the aftermath of the deal between OPEC and non-OPEC countries to rebalance the market. Novak made his announcement during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, referring to preliminary data without explaining the sources of the data. If Novak’s figures are correct, it would mean that OPEC and non-OPEC countries are close to meeting their goal of cutting a combined 1.8 million barrels per day by the first half of this year. At a compliance meeting in Vienna earlier in January, Novak said that Russia had reduced its oil production by some 100,000 barrels a day. Russia intends to cut its oil production by 200,000 barrels per day by the end of the first quarter and afterwards 300,000 barrels per day. “Some countries have cut more than […]