MOSCOW, Feb 4: Russia looks likely to pump more oil to world markets within weeks, sparking a fresh war with Opec after a brief curb on exports that flooded the domestic market with cheap crude and left producers with a loss.

In his clearest signal so far, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said on Monday that Russia could boost oil exports from the second quarter of the year if growth resumes in the United States and Europe.

Interviewed in Washington by Interfax news agency, Kasyanov said this would enable Russia to achieve a strategic goal of expanding its presence on the world oil market.

“The removal of the curbs (on crude exports) could become absolutely essential if the US economy and that of European countries start to grow simultaneously,” he said.

In this case, “it will be possible to begin achieving Russia’s strategic aim of increasing oil exports on the world market,” added the Russian premier, in the United States to hold official talks and attend the World Economic Forum.

Over the weekend, Kasyanov had delivered a warning shot to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), telling it that Russia had made “no commitments” on curbing crude sales after the first quarter.

After weeks of brinkmanship, Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, reluctantly agreed in December to cut its exports by 150,000 barrels a day during the first three months of this year.

The move followed strong pressure from the mainly Arab club of oil producers, which launched a global effort to rescue slumping world crude prices by restricting supply by around two million barrels a day.

Major independent producers including Russia, Norway and Mexico agreed to join the cartel’s plan after a 30-per cent slide in oil prices owing to a global economic slowdown caused by the Sept 11 attacks on the US.

But the drop in Russian oil exports has produced a glut of crude on the domestic market, forcing prices down and causing a sharp drop in revenue for producers and tax receipts for the government.—AFP