OPEC+ still awaits Russia's commitment to new coronavirus oil cuts: delegates

OPEC remains hostage to Russia's reluctance, with plans still in limbo on instituting deeper production cuts to ward off the coronavirus' impact on oil prices.

Moscow has yet to inform its OPEC partners whether it will commit to new cuts that were recommended by an advisory committee last week, several delegates told S&P Global Platts on Monday.

The recommendation calls for the alliance of OPEC, Russia and nine other countries to tighten production quotas by 600,000 b/d through June -- more than a third greater than the current 1.7 million b/d cut accord already in place. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, in particular, has been pushing for new cuts to combat the expected hit to global demand from the outbreak.

Russia is still studying the proposal, with energy minister Alexander Novak having said last week the effects of the coronavirus were still too uncertain.

The coalition, known as OPEC+, is next scheduled to meet March 5-6 in Vienna, but has been awaiting Russia's green light to move the meeting forward to as soon as this week so that the cuts could be implemented without further delay.

Any deal would require unanimous approval by all 23 members of the coalition.

Parviz Shahbazov, the energy minister of Azerbaijan, a close Russian ally, said Sunday that an early OPEC+ meeting "most likely won't happen," according to a report by Russia's Prime News Agency.

Azerbaijan's finance minister, Samir Sharifov, added that there was no reason to panic over the oil price plunge.

"I don't think we need to take hasty steps," he was quoted by Prime as saying. "We have enough foreign exchange reserves and, if necessary, are ready to respond to undesirable shocks."

Concerns that the outbreak, which was first revealed in early January, could blunt global crude demand have pushed oil prices sharply lower in recent weeks. Front-month ICE Brent futures were trading at $54.38/b at 1219 GMT, down 18% year to date.