Oil cos boost output after Sakhalin-1 shutdown, Russia able to maintain plateau of 10.9 mln bpd in Sept
MOSCOW. SPET 29 (Interfax) - Oil companies quickly increased oil output in the second half of September following the shutdown of oil production at the Sakhalin-1 project. Total oil production in Russia as a whole for the month stayed at 10.89 million bpd or 1.486 million tonnes, a source with knowledge of oil industry date told Interfax.
The Sakhalin-1 project, which produced 32,000 tonnes of oil per day in August, shutdown for planned maintenance works on September 8. From then, daily output declined dramatically. On September 15 output hit its lowest level for this year at 1.45 million tonnes or 10.585 million barrels.
In this context, Russian oil companies rapidly increased production. Rosneft was producing 514,700 tonnes of oil on September 18, rising to 534,200 tonnes by September 28. Lukoil was up from 222,500 tonnes per day, set by the company for the duration of the OPEC agreement, to 226,500 tonnes. Surgutneftegas increased production from 164,500 tonnes set for the OPEC agreement to 165,500 tonnes. Tatneft boosted output from 78,900 tonnes set for the OPEC agreement to 82,300 tonnes per day. Gazprom Neft also increased production from 105,400 tonnes to 110,500 tonnes per day.
Planned maintenance at Sakhalin-1 finished on September 24 and oil production is gradually ramped up.
As a result, after the low of mid-September of 1.45 million tonnes or 10.58 million barrels, oil production in Russia started to rise sharply. By September 26 it rose beyond 11 million bpd or 1.508 million tonnes. By September 28 oil production had reached 11.11 million bpd or 1.516 million tonnes per day.