MOSCOW—Russia raised oil and gas condensate output in April to 46.45 million tonnes (51.2 million tons), or 11.35 million barrels per day (bpd), from 11.29 million bpd in March, Interfax reported on May 2, before it makes cuts this month under a global supply pact.
The report, which cited Energy Ministry data, showed April’s figure was the highest monthly average output since January 2019, when it was 11.38 million bpd. (Reuters uses the barrels/tonnes ratio of 7.33.)
The United States, Norway, Canada, and Brazil may add cuts that would bring the total reduction to 20 million bpd, or 20 percent of global supply, although the CCP virus crisis has driven down demand by as much as 30 percent, driving down prices.
Russia is expected to cut its oil production by 2.5 million bpd from a baseline of 11 million bpd in May and June.
Tatneft’s Reduction
Russia’s mid-sized oil producer Tatneft said on Saturday it produced 1.994 million tonnes of oil in April, down from 2.442 million tonnes in March.The reduction amounted to around 90,000 bpd, or 16 percent from March. It did not say why it reduced output last month.
Tatneft cut output because storage capacity is full and European demand is weak, according to sources and data seen by Reuters last week.
The company operates in Tatarstan in central Russia which became the country’s main oil province in the 1970s with an output of 2 million bpd, helping the Soviet Union fund its arms race with the United States.
Russia has pledged to meet its commitments in full with output projected to fall to between 480 million and 500 million tonnes, or 9.6 million to 10 million bpd, this year, its first annual decline since 2008.
Natural gas production in April reached 55.14 billion cubic meters (1.95 trillion cubic feet), a decline of 14.3 percent from the same month a year earlier, the Interfax news agency also reported.
It also said Russian oil exports increased 2.2 percent year on year to 83.79 million tonnes (92.36 million tons) in the January-April period.
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