OPEC officials will seek clarification on Russia's commitment to oil supply cuts before the producer group meets in the middle of March to review output quotas, Algerian oil minister Chakib Khelil said.
Russia's promise to cut exports along with OPEC to boost prices will expire at the end of March. Russia increased output more than any other country last year and it's the only producer aside from Saudi Arabia capable of pumping more than 7 million barrels of crude oil a day.
"The question is on everybody's mind is what is the Russian Federation's position on cooperation with OPEC on price targets? Is there a common position?" Khelil said after giving a lecture at Columbia University in New York.
"The Russian contribution is very small, but it's significant, it's symbolic of this decision."
Russia is cutting exports by 150,000 barrels a day, while OPEC began reducing output by 1.5 million barrels a day on Jan. 1, its fourth production cut in the space of a year. Other non-OPEC countries, including Norway and Mexico, are also cutting exports.
Khelil, along with OPEC President Rilwanu Lukman of Nigeria and Secretary-General Ali Rodriguez, will visit Moscow in early March, before the organization's next conference in Vienna, scheduled for March 15.
Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky, chief executive officer of OAO Yukos Oil Co, Russia's second-biggest oil producer, said earlier this week at a conference in Houston that Brent crude oil prices of US$16 a barrel or lower "aren't problems of the oil companies, these are problems for the Russian federal budget."
In contrast, Vagit Alekperov, chief executive of OAO Lukoil, Russia's top oil producer, yesterday urged his Russian peers to continue to cut output to ease a glut on the local market and work with OPEC to set export policies. Lukoil has planned a 2.5 percent rise in production this year while Yukos has planned a 20 percent increase. "Yukos, maybe, has that position but Lukoil and other big producers, do not share that," Khelil said.
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