Novak: OPEC+ decision to increase production from April is linked to seasonal demand

The decision by OPEC+ to begin a partial recovery of oil production from April was made due to the onset of seasonal demand growth and is not related to calls from US President Donald Trump to lower prices, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told journalists.

Report informs via Interfax that he also said since the decision was essentially made back in December 2024 and only confirmed in early March, it has had little impact on oil prices.

"I think there isn’t as much volatility as there could have been because the schedules for the partial production recovery were adopted long ago, back in December, and the market had already accounted for this. <...> This [decision to increase production] is primarily related to the fact that it can only be done during a period of increased demand, and we are entering the spring-summer period of demand growth as automobile transportation recovers, so there is an opportunity [to restore production]," Novak explained.