Russia increased crude oil production in September while falling behind its OPEC target following the latest adjustments to the alliance’s compensation plans.
The nation pumped 9.368 million barrels a day last month, according to people who saw the data and asked for anonymity as the information isn’t public. That’s a 193,000 barrels per day hike from September, the biggest monthly increase since April, when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies started returning barrels to the global market.
Still, Russia’s daily production was about 47,000 barrels below the nation’s quota for September, including revised compensation cuts, Bloomberg calculations show.
The figures help to shed light on the health of the upstream industry in one of the world’s top three producers. Concerns have emerged over Moscow’s ability to keep up with its share of OPEC increases as the alliance revives curbed production to reclaim market share. Intensified drone attacks by Ukraine on Russia’s refineries have cut crude processing and led to a surge in exports of unprocessed barrels, with key ports running out of shipping capacity.
Russia classified its oil output data when Western sanctions over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine targeted the nation’s energy industry, complicating independent verification. Market watchers rely on ship-tracking data and estimates of refinery runs to follow trends in Russia’s oil industry.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, September output was close to Russia’s OPEC quota, with production increasing gradually.
“Just as we can’t reduce production quickly, we are ramping it up gradually. We will fulfill our quota,” Novak said, as reported by Interfax, when asked about August output, which was also below the required level.
Moscow, historically one of the biggest laggards in implementing OPEC supply deals, has agreed on compensation curbs to make up for previous overproduction. The monthly schedule for extra cuts for a wider group was revised four times this year.
OPEC published an updated compensation schedule last week, with Russia pledging to reduce its output in September by 34,000 barrels a day below its target of 9.449 million barrels a day for the month. That brings required production to 9.415 million barrels a day.
Russia’s September production was much closer to its OPEC pledge under the previous compensation plan published in September, which required the nation to pump 9.364 million barrels a day, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Russia’s energy ministry didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg request for a comment.
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