Russia plans to speed up oil output cuts this month and by the end of the month it will bring the combined oil production cut level to 228,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the October level, the Energy Minister Alexander Novak said. “We have an understanding that in March there will be higher compliance rate (than in previous months),” Novak told reporters on Monday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other large oil producers led by Russia agreed to cut their combined oil output by 1.2 million bpd starting from Jan. 1 to evenly balance the market and prop up weak oil prices.