Ministry of Energy: Russia is ready to compensate for slight shortfall in OPEC+ April oil production plan

MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax) - Oil production in Russia was slightly higher in April than the established plan within OPEC+, and the country is ready to compensate for shortfalls which may occur in the future, the Russian Ministry of Energy said in a statement.

"In April, as part of voluntary reductions, oil production in Russia was slightly above target levels. The overproduction occurred due to the technical specifics associated with the significant reduction in production volumes," the report said.

"Russia is fully committed to the OPEC+ agreements, plans to compensate for shortfalls in production plans, and will soon submit its plan to cover small deviations from voluntary production levels to the OPEC secretariat," the Russian Ministry of Energy said.

Oil production in the Russian Federation in the first quarter of 2024 was below the established quotas, the ministry said.

Russia's official oil OPEC+ production quota for 2024 is 9.95 million bpd. With the voluntary production reduction announced in April 2023 for all of 2024. The quota is 9.45 million bpd.

According to OPEC data, Russia produced an average of 9.415 million bpd in the first quarter of this year, with output of 9.408 million bpd in February and 9.446 million bpd in March.

Russia produced 9.292 million bpd of oil in April, OPEC said. Russia promised to reduce production and exports in different variations 471,000 bpd starting in the second quarter. Russia was supposed to reduce production 350,000 bpd and exports 121,000 bpd in April, and 400,000 bpd and 71,000 bpd respectively, in May. Russia will just reduce production 471,000 bpd in June.

That is, Russian production should have totaled 9.1 million bpd in April, 9.05 million bpd in May, and 8.979 million bpd in June, which is the same as the quota for Saudi Arabia.

Interfax calculates that Russia produced 105,000 bpd less than the permitted level in Q1, and 192,000 bpd more in April, and that compensation could amount to 87,000 bpd.