Russia has decided to keep its oil production at a reduced level until June, taking into account the current market situation, according to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
Last month, the country pledged to cut its crude output alone by 500,000 barrels a day in March in response to Western energy sanctions. It is currently close to making that planned cut and will reach the target production level in a few days, Novak said in a statement, without providing further details.
There has been skepticism about whether Russia has made the planned cuts so far this month, as the country’s seaborne crude exports have held up despite the sanctions. Domestic refinery operations have also shown little sign of production cuts.
Russia’s decision to extend the period of oil production cuts comes after a banking crisis has rocked commodity markets. While regulators and central banks stepped in to try to restore investor confidence, oil prices are hovering around 15-month lows.
Novak said his country will not accept any external restrictions, which would create “significant risks to the energy security of the whole world”, referring to Western price caps for crude oil and the country’s products.
Russia’s promised cut is equivalent to about 5% of its total output of crude oil and condensates in January, which was taken as the basis for the reductions. The country’s producers pumped about 10.86 million barrels a day in the first month of the year, according to Bloomberg calculations based on industry data.
Russia’s oil production data has been classified since last year, with the market only occasionally getting a glimpse of actual production levels.
