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Tuesday, 02 December, 2008, 02:20 GMT | more >>

Russian output hits new high



By Upstream staff 

Russian oil output rose by 0.6% in October versus September to a new post-Soviet high of 9.93 million barrels per day while shipments abroad fell on very high export duties, according to data released by the Energy Ministry.

In absolute figures production rose by 60,000 barrels per day, or one mid-sized tanker, from 9.87 million bpd in September.

October production was 2.3% or 220,000 bpd higher on the year-on-year basis compared to 9.71 million bpd in October 2006, a Reuters report said.

Russian production has been growing for eight consecutive years and has risen by over 60% from its post-Soviet low of 6 million bpd in 1999.

The growth has however slowed to 2% to 3% a year from an explosive double digit rise early this decade as West Siberian fields are depleting, while East Siberian fields are yet to come on stream.

This year's production has been largely supported by new fields off Russia's Pacific island of Sakhalin.

The data showed production sharing deals, most of which focus on Sakhalin, extracted 305,000 bpd in October, up from 250,000 bpd in September.

October oil exports via major ports and pipelines to Europe edged down to 4.44 million bpd versus 4.55 million bpd in September as producers preferred to re-route volumes to the domestic market following a spike in export duties from 1 October.

Gas production by Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom soared to 44.75 billion cubic metres from 40.69 Bcm in September as the company increased oftake of gas due to colder weather.


Friday, 02 November, 2007, 08:43 GMT  | last updated: Friday, 02 November, 2007, 08:44 GMT

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