Top manager: Lukoil’s Russian oil output may ease in 2016

MOSCOW, Jun 6 (PRIME) -- Oil major Lukoil expects that its Russian output will fall slightly in 2016, but the launch of new fields in 2017 will offset the production decline, company’s director for capital markets and M&A Pavel Zhdanov said during a conference call on Monday.

“As for West Siberia, yes, we see that production is falling significantly there, majorly at mature fields… Earlier we decided to redirect capex from mature fields to new projects,” he said.

“At present, when the situation has quite stabilized, we are taking steps to increase drilling in West Siberia actively in order to offset the production decline,” Zhdanov said, adding that it will have an obvious effect by the end of the second half year of 2016 or in 2017.

“We expect our production in the country in general to fall insignificantly this year and to return to the levels of 2015 in 2017,” he said.

Lukoil plans to launch the Filanovsky oil field in the Caspian Sea in September and the Pyakyakhinskoye oil and gas condensate field in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District in October–December.

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