Russia hikes oil output in Apr as its OPEC+ quota rises

Moscow: Russia increased its oil production in April thanks to a more generous OPEC+ quota.

The nation pumped 42.81 million tonnes of crude and condensate last month, according to preliminary data from the Energy Ministry's CDU-TEK unit. That equates to 10.46 million barrels a day, or 1.9 per cent more than in March, Bloomberg reported.

The data don't provide a breakdown between crude and condensate — a light oil extracted from natural gas that's excluded from the OPEC+ deal — making it difficult to assess Russia's compliance with its quota. If April condensate output was the same as in March, about 900,000 barrels a day, then crude production would be around 9.56 million barrels a day, some 180,000 barrels above Russia's quota.

Russia typically implements almost 100 per cent of its pledged cuts, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said last week in an interview with state-run Rossiya 24 TV. According to the International Energy Agency, the nation's average compliance level was 95 per cent from May 2020 to March 2021.

Between February and April, Russia and its neighbor Kazakhstan were the only nations allowed to increase production under the OPEC+ agreement. Other members kept their output flat, while Saudi Arabia voluntarily took an extra 1 million barrels a day off the market. In April, Russia's daily quota rose by 130,000 barrels, following a 65,000-barrel-a-day increase each month in February and March.

Last week, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies confirmed their plans to increase production by about 2 million barrels a day from May to July as global demand recovers. That will put the cartel back in line with the schedule established a year ago for phasing out its cuts, after postponing output hikes earlier this year.

Russia is set to increase production by 114,000 barrels a day from May to July, ramping up evenly over the period, Novak said last month.