Kremlin spokesman says Russia not surprised by oil price drop: report

Moscow — The recent sharp fall in oil prices has come as no surprise to Russia, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, was quoted as saying Monday by the Prime news agency.

"There were expectations and forecasts that there would be a period of falling oil and energy prices," he said.

Peskov added that Putin would meet with the head of VTB bank, Andrei Kostin on Monday and discuss current market turmoil with several international partners.

He said that Putin does not currently plan to talk with the Saudi leadership or Russian oil producers, however.

On Friday Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said he did not expect to return to the negotiating table with OPEC on oil production cuts.

He estimated that Russia could bring an additional 200,000 b/d to market in April and over time this will rise to 500,000 b/d. Russia produced 11.38 million b/d of crude and condensate in February.

Oil prices have fallen sharply since Russia and OPEC failed to agree on an additional 1.5 million b/d of oil production cuts in early March. Concerns over the market impact of the coronavirus outbreak are compounding the price fall.