Medvedev hints at coordinated oil cuts with OPEC

MOSCOW MILLS — President Dmitry Medvedev hinted Thursday that Russia could coordinate oil production cuts with OPEC as the cartel gears up for a crucial meeting next week.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to slash output when it meets in Algeria on Wednesday in an attempt to shore up oil prices, which have fallen 70 percent since July.

"No matter whom I meet, they ask us to pursue a coordinated policy," Medvedev said in televised comments while on a trip to central Russia. "We are ready for this, we must defend ourselves. ... Protective measures of this kind could be linked to a cut in oil output as well as taking part in existing supplier organizations or new organizations."

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko earlier hinted that Moscow might make concessions to OPEC when it sets out its proposals to curb output on the same day as the cartel's meeting.

Russia has already indicated it backs OPEC's efforts to boost prices, though many in the market have questioned whether the country would be willing or able to implement cuts of its own at a time when it sorely needs oil revenues.

Russian oil production is expected to fall in any case, and Moscow could point that out to appease the cartel, which does not want to shoulder the burden of production cuts alone.

Russia is the world's second-largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia and its economy is heavily dependent on oil and gas prices. The plummet in world oil prices in recent months has sharply pinched the government's budget and stoked worries in the Kremlin.

Earlier this month, OPEC's chief said he hoped Russia would join the organization, or at least agree to output cuts to help spark a rally in prices.

Benchmark crude prices jumped 11 percent, or $4.91, to $48.43 Thursday.

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