Novak: exit from OPEC deal should be smooth

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said a global pact by OPEC, Russia and other producers to cut oil output had dampened price volatility and was reducing bloated inventories, so no immediate extra measures were needed to prop up prices.

"We believe that it is necessary to move within the framework of the agreed decisions and that new, snap decisions are not necessary," Novak said in an interview with Reuters.

"We have got the positive effect for market stabilisation. The prices have been stabilised at higher levels, which allows the interests of investors, producers and consumers to be taken into account," Novak said.

Novak said prices had room to rise from current levels and said inventories in industrialised nations were expected to ease back to the five-year average thanks to the decision by OPEC and its allies to extend supply curbs from the first half of 2017 to the first quarter of 2018.

Novak said there were no proposals for more nations to be represented at that regular committee meeting, which plans to discuss the deal implementation and the market situation.

The Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) had the authority to recommend "any decisions" to participants involved in the pact if needed, Novak said.

The Russian energy minister also said any exit from the global pact at the end of the first quarter would be "smooth", adding that inventories would have fallen by that stage and demand would be picking up in the second quarter of 2018.

"Other OPEC members have also confirmed their interest to exit the deal in a way that any supply increase would follow a demand rise during the second and third quarters," he added.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers led by Russia agreed to cut production by almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) from January this year to rein in inventories and support prices. The deal runs to March 2018.