By Olesya Astakhova and Yousef Saba
RAS AL KHAIMAH, United Arab Emirates (Reuters) – Igor Sechin, the head of Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft, said on Thursday the OPEC+ group’s decisions to cut oil production in 2016 and 2020 helped the U.S. shale industry and into a leading global player. energy exporter.
Sechin said at a forum in the United Arab Emirates that Russia and its partners have made the main contribution to the stabilization of the global energy market over the past decade.
Sechin, a long-standing ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has previously expressed skepticism about Russian cooperation with OPEC, saying the United States has benefited most from the deal struck in 2016.
Sechin told the UAE forum that Russia and its partners have helped stabilize global energy markets.
“OPEC+’s decisions to stabilize the oil market in 2016 and 2020 have significantly supported the US shale industry,” Sechin said.
Some analysts have said that OPEC+ efforts to balance the global oil market have been offset by sluggish fuel demand in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, and increased production from non-OPEC countries such as the US.
OPEC+, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, pumps about half of the world’s oil.
Later on Thursday, the group will hold an online meeting to decide on production policy in 2025.
OPEC+ sources told Reuters the group is likely to extend its latest round of oil production cuts for at least three months from January.
U.S. oil production is expected to grow just 2.3% this year, according to U.S. government data, as shale producers continue to focus on shareholder returns and limit new spending on production.
Last year, oil exports from the United States grew by 13.5%. They have grown every year except 2021, when COVID-19 crushed global oil demand, according to the data.
Oil production led global oil production for the sixth year in a row, with a record-breaking average production of 12.9 million barrels per day, US Energy Information Administration data showed.
