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Russia’s oil production up 1.7% in first half of May to 1.398 mln tonnes per day

Russia has mainly increased the production of crude oil gradually since last spring

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/. Russia’s average daily oil and gas condensate production amounted to 1.398 mln tonnes from May 1 to 15, 2022, up by 1.7% compared with April when average daily production of crude oil totaled 1.374 mln tonnes, a source familiar with official oil production statistics told TASS.

The decrease in output reached 6% in first ten-day period of April compared with March, accelerating to almost 9% by the end of the month. Russia has mainly increased the production of crude oil gradually since last spring. However, the country faced massive international sanctions due to the situation in Ukraine in March 2022. Sanctions prohibit investments in exploration, production and refining of crude in Russia. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said earlier that Moscow might lose up to 17% of oil production in 2022 due to sanctions.

Nevertheless, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said earlier that the government expected production to partially recover in March after a decrease in April, adding that the situation already stabilized in first days of May.

Russia participates in the OPEC+ crude production cap agreement. However, in January 2021 it was given the right to boost output within a gradual easing of restrictions. For example, the agreements enabled Russia to increase crude production by 125,000 barrels per day last January, by another 130,000 barrels per day each month in February-April, and by another 38,000 barrels per day in May-July. Russia increased production by 100,000 barrels per day in August-December as agreed by the OPEC+ deal, with the same increase rates to persist in January-June 2022.

In February Russia’s oil production rose by almost 10% compared with January 2021 as average daily output totaled 1.371 mln tonnes, whereas by the end of March growth slowed down to 9%. In April output dropped by almost 9%, returning to the level of early 2021. In April, Russia was to produce no more than 10.549 mln barrels per day (excluding gas condensate) in accordance with the deal, in May - no more than 10.663 mln barrels per day.

If the Russian oil production statistics is recalculated in barrels at the coefficient used for Russia’s Urals oil (7.33), the country’s average daily output in the first half of May 2022 amounted to 10.246 mln barrels compared with 10.05 mln barrels in December 2020 including gas condensate. Russia’s average gas condensate production per month amounted to 800,000-850,000 barrels per day.

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