A well head and drilling rig in the Yarakta oilfield, owned by Irkutsk Oil Company (INK), in the Irkutsk region, Russia, March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko/File Photo
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian oil and gas condensate production increased to 9.37 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, Interfax news agency reported on Sunday, citing energy ministry data, indicating it missed its output target under a global deal.
Production was up from 9.32 million bpd in June.
From August, the output cuts – agreed between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) other major producers including Russia, a group known as OPEC+ – are due to be eased. In tonnes, Russian oil and gas condensate production rose to 39.63 million in July from 38.16 million in June, Interfax reported. Under the OPEC+ agreement, Moscow pledged to reduce its output to around 8.5 million bpd in May-July to support oil prices.
The deal does not include output of gas condensate, a light oil. Russia usually produces 700,000 to 800,000 bpd of gas condensate. That means that excluding gas condensate, Russia could have produced around 8.57 million to 8.67 million bpd of crude oil in July. The cuts under the global deal should be eased starting from August thanks to a recovery in oil prices LCOc1. Russia has said it would increase its oil production by 400,000 bpd.
Russian oil exports outside the former Soviet Union stood last month at 15.72 million tonnes, down 27.1% from July 2019. In barrels per day, exports reached 3.72 million, according to Interfax. The news agency also said on Sunday that Russian natural gas output reached 50.33 billion cubic metres in July, down 7.9% from a year earlier.
Source: Reuters