MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. Russia will be able to keep oil production at a stable level until 2025, according to First Deputy Minister of Energy Pavel Sorokin.

"According to current forecasts, oil production until 2025 will be at a stable level," he said in an interview with Neftegazovaya Vertical magazine.

According to him, the current state of oil output is better than many projected. According to projections, Russia's oil and gas condensate production in 2022 should have been 515 mln metric tons, but by the end of the year, production had risen by 4% to over 535 mln metric tons. This was primarily due to increased supplies to refineries and oil exports.

Sorokin added that if production remained stable, the wells would not have to be decommissioned. In any case, Russia has a track record of success in dealing with such issues.

"For example, within the OPEC+ agreements, Russia reduced oil production by 2 mln barrels per day in May 2020 to 8.6 mln barrels per day. The decrease was carried out at facilities where, if necessary, production could be resumed without any technical issues. Following that, production was increased to 10.1 mln barrels per day, but expansion was halted due to changes in market conditions in 2022," he said.