Novak’s Comments Suggest a Difficult Time for Crude Oil in 2020

Crude Oil has had an interesting year, having started the year below $50, climbing around $20 to $66 in Q1, after OPEC+ decided to place quotas at the end of last year. It slipped lower to $50 in Q2, then we saw a surge in September after the attack on the Saudi Oil refineries.

But, that didn’t last long and WTI Crude Oil turned lower again, as the global economy continued to weaken and the demand for Oil declined. Although, OPEC decided to intervene again, cutting production quotas by an additional 50k barrels/day, which has kept Oil prices bullish since then.

Comments by Russian energy minister, Alexander Novak:

• Russia will need to raise oil output at some point
• OPEC+ deal is positive for the market but it can’t last forever
• Next year we will discuss raising oil output

Russia didn’t like the new quotas, as we heard Novak say that it would have been better for OPEC+ to wait until next year, but OPEC decided to go ahead at the end of November. Now Russia is saying that the output cuts can’t last forever.