OPEC leaders, who agreed to a production cut worth 1.2 million barrels per day in November last year are due to set a meeting on May 23rd in their to headquarter in Vienna to decide on whether to extend those cuts or not. The recent selloffs in the oil price that pushed it to the lowest point since the deal have pose doubts on the extension. (WTI at $45.8 per barrel)

However, the Russian energy minister Alexander Novak remains relatively optimistic and supports the extension of the deal. Russia and other 10 non-OPEC oil producing countries joined OPEC deal in November and agreed to slash production by another 558,000 barrels per day. Russia has cut production by 300,000 barrels per day, the biggest among non-OPEC producers and only second to Saudi Arabia overall.

TASS news agency quoted the Russian energy minister saying, “Now we are holding final negotiations on this topic with our partners and are inclined to think that extension is reasonable.” Mr. Novak also praised the signatories to the agreement for their high level of commitment and compliance. He dismissed allegations that the cuts weren’t successful by saying that the surplus commercial inventory is being reduced at a good rate and pointed that the floating inventories are down by almost 50 percent. Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Khalid al-Falih has also expressed optimism with regard to the deal’s extension. The duo is likely to discuss the matter heading to the meeting on 23rd.