Due to weather and geological conditions in the cold Russian winter, Russia cannot cut its oil production too quickly, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday, reiterating Moscow’s commitment to stick to the new OPEC+ deal and to gradually reduce production. Russia will try to cut its oil production faster, Novak noted. A few days ago, Khalid al-Falih, the energy minister of Saudi Arabia—the OPEC kingpin and key Russian ally in all OPEC/non-OPEC production policy deals since early 2017—said that Russia was moving with the cuts “slower than I’d like.” “Russia has started, slower than I’d like, but they’ve started, and I am sure as they did as in 2017 they’ll catch up and be a positive contributor to re-balancing the market,” al-Falih told CNBC on Sunday. The new OPEC+ deal, under which Russia will be cutting 228,000 bpd, is for a six-month period starting January 1, 2019 with […]