Although compliance to the cuts had a slow start, OPEC's JMMC noted in a press release following their meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that compliance had hit a record high of 168% in April 2019. Average conformity reached 120% since January 2019.

Russia’s GDP unexpectedly grew just 0.5% in the first quarter, below all 14 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. That compares with a 2.7% increase in the last three months of 2018, which was the highest in more than six years as crude output reached a record 11.45mn barrels a day in December, according to ministry data as Opec+ curbs eased.

Russia removes contaminated oil from an export pipeline Druzhba

Following its 14th Meeting, which took place on 19 May 2019, in Jeddah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) has reaffirmed its commitment to achieving a balanced market and working towards oil market stability on a sustainable basis with solid fundamentals.

"We want to bring inventories down to a more normal levels," Falih said. "We need to stay the course and do that in the weeks and months to come."

Russia sees a range of options that would allow OPEC+ to continue output cooperation until year-end, from easing the limits to ending the extreme throttling-back that has seen some countries exceed original cutback targets.

OPEC+ would take action to offset losses of Iranian supply if market fundamentals justified it. However, no policy changes will be made until the next full OPEC+ meeting in Vienna, in June.

Gazprom's sales of Russian gas dropped 10% in the first quarter, analysis of quarterly results showed, as sales from storage dipped compared with 2018.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said on Thursday Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft would provide compensation to all parties that could prove real damages from contaminated oil.

Russian oil production has fallen to 11.16 million barrels per day (bpd) on May 1-12 from an average of 11.23 million bpd in April