MOSCOW (TASS) — Russia’s representatives will participate in the meeting of the OPEC+ technical committee in March, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Wednesday.

Earlier a source in the Energy Ministry told TASS that the OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee (JTC) involving Russia would be held on March 18. Alexander Novak said:

Yes, our representatives will be present. I will repeat myself: the format of our relations within the framework of the charter (cooperation of oil-producing countries) has remained as we continue monitoring the situation with our colleagues.

OPEC+ ministers failed to reach an agreement on further parameters of the crude production cap deal at the talks on March 6. OPEC proposed to deepen production cuts by another 1.5 mln barrels per day until the end of this year, while Russia and Kazakhstan opposed the proposal. All output cuts will be removed starting April.

Russia and Saudi Arabia have already announced plans to boost crude production by 250,000-300,000 barrels per day and by 300,000 per day to 12.3 mln barrels, respectively.

Despite the failed talks, the OPEC+ cooperation mechanism will remain. Particularly, the ministerial committee on compliance monitoring will continue watching the market and can call a meeting if required. However, Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told Reuters earlier that he fails “to see the wisdom for holding meetings in May-June that would only demonstrate the failure in attending to what we should have done in a crisis like this and taking the necessary measures.”