Cold weather helps Russia cut daily oil output by 5,000–10,000 bbl

MOSCOW, Jan 13 (PRIME) -- Contribution of cold weather to Russia’s lower oil production at the beginning of January stood at 5,000–10,000 barrels per day, Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov told reporters on Friday.

On Thursday, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Russia had started cutting oil output under an agreement with other oil producing countries, but the reduction in the first 10 days of January exceeded plans of oil companies due to cold weather.

“We’ve planned (to slash the production) by 50,000 (barrels a day)…I think, (the contribution of weather) amounted to 5,000–10,000 barrels,” Molodtsov said.

OPEC and 11 non-OPEC countries, including Russia, agreed in December 2016 to cut combined oil production by 1.8 million barrels a day in January–July 2017 in order to balance supply and demand. OPEC will reduce output by 1.2 million barrels daily, while Russia is to decrease production by 300,000 barrels.

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