Mamdouh Salameh, an international energy economist, told Sputnik that reports about the alleged plans to suspend Moscow from the OPEC+ oil cut deal are an attempt to mislead people as Russia could be exempted from cuts only if its production is negatively affected by political circumstances such as those that happened in Venezuela and Iran.

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal cited its sources as saying that some OPEC countries were considering suspending Moscow from the deal, as the partial European ban on oil imports from Moscow and Western sanctions will prevent Russia from boosting its oil production.    

"If a member of OPEC is facing political upheavals or sanctions or even a civil war affecting its oil production like Iran, Venezuela, and Libya, they are normally exempted from any production cuts under the OPEC+ production cuts agreement. This automatically excludes Russia since its oil production and exports have hardly been affected by the Ukraine conflict. Moreover, nobody wants to suspend Russia from the OPEC+ agreement," Salameh said, adding that such reports are "a deliberate disinformation and therefore it should be ignored." 

According to the expert, if Russia is producing short of its OPEC+ quota, it would be logical to allow other members to boost their production in a way compensating for Russia's deficit.   

"Russia isn’t stopping them [from] meeting their production quotas. They are unable to do so because of lack of capacity," Salameh explained.    

When asked about whether EU sanctions will manage in curbing Russian oil exports by sea, the expert noted the issue is whether or not European countries want to shun Russian oil imports.  

"The success of Iran and Venezuela in evading US sanctions means that EU sanctions against Russian oil can also be circumvented," Salameh said.    

On Thursday, both OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers are holding a meeting to agree on whether or not to boost production.

In April 2020, the OPEC+ production cut deal was reached b 23 countries, including ten OPEC members, amid the drop in oil demand as coronavirus shutdowns were occurring worldwide. The countries agreed, last August, to boost oil production every month by 400,000 barrels per day. In May, the OPEC+ revised its monthly output production increase upward to 432,000 barrels per day.