Quoting sources privy to the data, Reuters reports that Russia was already pumping up to 11.193 million bpd (barrels per day) in the first days of July.
The increase follows the deal made at the recent OPEC meeting to put an additional 1 million bpd of oil into the market, although it did not specify where exactly the extra production would come from. This was billed as a return to full compliance, because lower production in some countries meant that overall production was below the targeted level.
Russia had already been exceeding its quota, however. In the first week of June, it pumped 11.09 bpd, some 143,000 bpd above its prescribed quota, as it stood then. There were also signs before the OPEC meeting that Russia was preparing for a production jump. Prior to entering the OPEC-led deal, Russia’s oil production was at a 30-year high of 11.247 million bpd. If the early July volumes are sustained, it will take the country’s production close to this level again.
Energy ministers from Russia and Saudi Arabia also met recently to discuss the situation in the oil market and their respective plans for increasing production to meet the summer demand.
Despite suffering from a decline following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia rebuilt its oil sector to become one of the world’s major oil producers again. It now includes international operators like ExxonMobil, the maker of the Mobil Unirex N3 complex grease, who runs the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia’s far east.
