Oil production in Russia will reach the pre-crisis level in May 2022, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday.
"It was decided to increase [oil] production to the pre-crisis level. As for Russia, we will reach the pre-crisis level already in May 2022," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel.
He recalled that the OPEC+ nations, which have been cutting production to stabilize the market, agreed today to extend the deal till the end of 2022, but five countries - Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Iraq - will have a possibility to increase production additionally from May 2022.
"We agreed on a monthly increase in oil production by 400,000 barrels a day in all countries that are members of the OPEC+ deal," he said.
The increase will depend on the baseline - the level from which the production quotas are calculated. It will be increased by 0.5 million barrels a day, to 11.5 million barrels a day for Russia and Saudi Arabia, from 3.17 to 3.5 million barrels a day for the United Arab Emirates. Baselines for Kuwait and Iraq will be raised by 150,000 barrels a day, to 2.959 million and 4.803 million barrels a day, respectively.
"It will also give us a possibility to increase production in the second half of 2022," TASS cited Novak as saying.
The OPEC+ new decision will make it possible for Russia to increase oil production in 2021-2022 by 21 million tonnes, Novak said. "It [the OPEC+ decision] will make it possible for us to increase production by 100,000 barrels starting from August. This is quite a big volume that will give us an additional output by about 21 million tonnes this and next year," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel,
According to Novak, Russia will be able to increase oil production in the second half of 2022 thanks to a higher baseline production, which is used to calculate production cuts, by 500,000 barrels a day, i.e. from 11 million to 11.5 million barrels a day.
He noted that under the new terms of the deal, Russia’s oil output will reach the pre-crisis level in May 2022. However, he added, the deal may be adjusted at the next OPEC_ meeting on September 1, if the market situation changes.
