Russia plans to maintain oil output at current levels for the next two decades, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said, shrugging off sanctions and the slump in crude prices. Production will remain at about 525 million metric tons a year, or 10.5 million barrels a day, until 2035, Novak said Wednesday at a conference in Moscow. Russia, which ranks with Saudi Arabia and the U.S. among the world’s biggest producers, pumped 10.71 million barrels a day in January, a post-Soviet record. Crude oil dropped 48 percent last year because of global oversupply, prompting speculation that producers would curb output as fields became unprofitable. U.S. shale oil output will expand at the slowest pace in more than four years in April, according to a U.S. government report Monday. “We aren’t making any assumptions about reducing output currently,” Novak said. “Our task and plan, as you know, is to maintain […]