Top management of Russian oil companies and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak discussed a possible extension of oil output restrictions into the first quarter of 2021. OPEC and Russia imposed a record oil output cut in April to support prices as the COVID-19 pandemic shrank demand. The options that were discussed by the Russian oil companies and Novak are to extend the current output curbs into the first quarter of 2021, to increase oil output in January, as planned, or to cut output even further.
Russian oil and gas condensate output rose to 9.98 million barrels per day (BPD) in October from 9.93 million BPD a month earlier, indicating Russia’s output was close to its quota or slightly above it. According to media sources, the final oil output decision will be made by Vladimir Putin, who did not rule out extending deep oil cuts for longer if market conditions warranted.
