Russian oil output and exports dip in October, Kommersant reports
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian oil production and exports have declined slightly in October, Kommersant business daily reported on Monday, saying output is poised to fall further owing to an EU embargo expected in early December.
Russian oil production has proven resilient so far in the face of Western sanctions over Ukraine, but European Union countries that have been primary consumers of Russian crude for decades will stop buying it from Dec. 5 under an embargo imposed by the bloc.
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Citing anonymous data, Kommersant said that Russia’s October oil production has been at 1.47 million tonnes of oil per day, which equates to 10.78 million barrels per day (bpd), down from September’s 10.8 million bpd reported by Russian statistics agency Rosstat last week.
The newspaper also said that Russian seaborne and pipeline oil exports have declined by 2% from September to about 640,000 tonnes per day (4.7 million bpd).
One of the reasons for the production decline was a collapse in output at the Sakhalin 1 offshore Pacific project, abandoned by ExxonMobil after Moscow sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in February.
The newspaper said that oil output at the project has been less than half the planned volumes after it was restarted. It did not say when production at Sakhalin 1 resumed.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by David Goodman)