Russia’s oil output hits post-Soviet record with 10.73mb/d in 2015, up from 10.58mb/d in 2014, as small- and medium-sized energy companies such as Bashneft cranked up the pumps despite falling crude prices, reported Reuters citing the Energy Ministry’s data.
The ministry attributed the output rise to investments made in the last three years. Initially, it had expected output to fall due to the exhaustion of mature oilfields in Western Siberia, which account for over a half of the country’s total oil production, but Russian SMEs managed to extract more crude from the fields than predicted.
In addition, Russia’s crude export rose to 5.
25mb/d in 2015, according to the data, out of which supplies to countries outside the former Soviet Union jumped up 11% year-on-year to more than 4.42mb/d, informed Bloomberg. Russia’s oil exporter Rosneft shipped nearly 100m tons of crude to far abroad countries using Transneft networks last year, Lukoil, Surgutneftegas and Tatneft together exported more than 60m tons, while Gazprom Neft saw lowest levels of less than 8m tons, wrote Interfax.
Experts in Moscow have estimated that Russia will increase its oil production further in 2016 as new fields come online and due to ruble devaluation, Europe Online Magazine wrote. As Moscow seems reluctant to give in to OPEC’s request to curb oil output, the rise in production will contribute to a global oil supply glut and exert continued downward pressure on oil prices at the level of $36 last month.
