Russian oil output rose to a record ahead of talks on supply with Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries next week.
Output in September has been about 11.09 million barrels a day, the highest monthly average since the Soviet era, and reached about 11.18 million on Tuesday, Energy Ministry data show. Maintenance at Sakhalin Island in August capped output that month at just over 10.7 million barrels a day.
Russia will meet fellow oil producers in Algiers on Sept. 28 to discuss the market as the global crude surplus keeps prices below $50 a barrel. President Vladimir Putin said Sept. 1 he’s confident producers can overcome differences that derailed a proposal to freeze supply in April. Yet the start of new Russian fields shows the country is keen to squeeze as much revenue from its oil resources while it can.
“Russia keeps posting new record highs because neither Russia nor OPEC managed to agree upon freezing,” said Alexander Kornilov, an oil analyst at Aton LLC. “Production is profitable.”
via Bloomberg
