By Olesya Astakhova and Vladimir Soldatkin
MOSCOW (Reuters) -The head of Russian oil major Gazprom (MCX:GAZP) Neft said on Saturday he sees no need for additional oil supply cuts by OPEC+ oil producers, days before the group is due to meet on output policy.
OPEC+ have agreed to voluntary output cuts totalling about 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first quarter led by Saudi Arabia rolling over a 1 million bpd voluntary reduction.
OPEC+ producers are scheduled to hold a meeting of a key ministerial panel on Feb 1 and group sources have said that it will likely decide its oil production levels for April and beyond in the coming weeks.
"OPEC+ has already decided on cuts, cuts actually start now, in January, on the one hand. On the other hand, we are approaching the spring season, a seasonal increase in oil demand. This will happen soon enough, in two months," Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov told reporters.
"In my opinion, at the moment there is no need (to adjust the OPEC+ deal)."
He said earlier on Saturday that there was a slight surplus on the global oil market.
Dyukov also said that the company plans to increase oil refining volumes and hydrocarbon output in 2024, without providing figures, while Gazprom Neft's investments are seen unchanged this year.
The Paris-based International Energy Agency, which advises oil consuming countries, has said that with conflict in the Middle East raising concern over supply - barring significant disruptions to flows - the market looked reasonably well supplied in 2024 and a surplus could emerge if OPEC and its allies unwind output cuts as scheduled in the second quarter.
RUSSIAN OUTPUT
Separately, Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said on Saturday that the country's oil production will likely stay broadly unchanged this year, RIA news agency reported.
Russian oil and gas condensate production declined slightly last year to 530 million metric tons (10.6 million barrels per day).
Interfax news agency also quoted Shulginov as saying that Russia has cut gasoline exports following an incident at the NORSI oil refinery.
The outage has sparked concerns about potential gasoline shortages across the country and there have been media reports suggesting that the government was considering imposing an export ban on the fuel, as it did last autumn.