Gazprom Neft could return to early 2020 production level in one-two months

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 3 (Interfax) - Gazprom Neft could return to the production level it had at the beginning of 2020 in one to two months, the Russian oil company's CEO, Alexander Dyukov said.

"We have reserve production capacity that we can use. We can return production volume to the level at the start of 2020. This would be fairly quick to do within one or two months," Dyukov told reporters.

"You see that production volumes are lower than consumption volumes. The market is slightly overheated. But under the OPEC+ agreement, the countries are starting to respond to the situation on the market and starting to increase production volumes. The OPEC+ agreement might be extended if there is a need for this," Dyukov said.

Asked if there will be a surplus on the market in 2022, he said many factors affect the balance of demand and supply. "Including also the pandemic - a very important factor. No one can really say with confidence what will happen tomorrow. New variants are appearing periodically. They are more contagious. Governments respond, imposing additional lockdowns. This affects the level of consumption," Dyukov said.