Russia ready to freeze or cut output with OPEC, Putin says

ISTANBUL (Bloomberg) -- Russia, the world’s largest energy exporter, is willing to consider freezing or even cutting oil output in cooperation with OPEC, said President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul Monday, Putin said he hoped OPEC would agree on limits to its crude production in November and that Russia was ready to support that decision. Russia will continue to be a reliable energy supplier, he said.

Ministers from some of the largest oil-producing nations are gathering in Turkey this week to discuss ways to end a two-year supply glut. With benchmark Brent crude trading at about $52/bbl—less than half its price in mid-2014—countries from Saudi Arabia to Russia remain under severe economic pressure. Last month in Algiers, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reversed its policy of pumping without constraints, helping boost prices.

“It is not unthinkable that we could see $60 by year-end” following the agreement in the Algerian capital, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy and Industry Khalid Al-Falih said in Istanbul.

Even so, a lot of work needs to be done by the next OPEC meeting on Nov. 30, with crucial details still to be resolved on how the burden of cuts will be shared, or whether producers outside the group including will cooperate. Russia would prefer to freeze its output at current record levels rather than make cuts, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said earlier Monday.

Russia has pumped 11.2 MMbpd so far in October, beating last month’s post-Soviet record of 11.1 MMbpd, according to preliminary data from the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit.