Article content

MOSCOW — Boosting oil production in April is not “expedient” due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the global energy market, the TASS news agency reported the head of Russian oil producer Tatneft as saying on Monday.

His comments suggest Russian oil producers may be backtracking from their plan to raise oil production following the collapse of an output-curbing agreement with OPEC, as oil prices have plunged.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Russia's Tatneft says wrong to raise oil output in April - TASS Back to video

The deal between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia is due to expire at the end of March and will not be extended after a disagreement on further action between Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Oil prices fell from nearly $50 a barrel on March 6, when the talks collapsed, to below $25 after Russia and Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of OPEC, said the world’s two biggest oil exporters would open the taps from April 1.

“Everything is falling down. No one could assume 100% the likelihood of such a scenario,” Tatneft boss Nail Maganov was quoted as saying.