RE: $6+12:33 EST Thursday, Dec 11, 2008
Adds detail, background.)
MOSCOW -(Dow Jones)- Russia may lower oil output to support prices and could seek to become a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday, the Interfax news agency reported.
"We must protect ourselves ... Such protection could come in the form of reducing oil production volumes or joining supply groups, possibly even newly- created ones," he said in the city of Kurgan.
Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko Wednesday said Russia would present proposals on possible production cuts at an OPEC meeting scheduled for next week.
He didn't say what those proposals entail.
OPEC is vying to stem the recent ebb in global oil prices, which are around a third of the record levels seen in July.
Members are considering another reduction in output but some have called for non-OPEC producers, including Russia, to join the cut.
Observers note that Russia's oil production is dwindling in any case due to high taxes and the effects of the credit crisis.
They say a coordinated cut would be tricky as, unlike OPEC nations, much of Russia's oil industry is in private hands.
Agency Web site: www.interfax.ru