Russia's Rosneft says Q1 oil output down 70,000 bpd from Oct  

MOSCOW: Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft has cut its average first-quarter oil production by a little more than 70,000 barrels per day from October following a global deal on curbing output, the company said on Wednesday.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed with Russia and other leading oil producers to cut oil output by almost 1.8 million bpd in the first six months of this year to tackle bloated inventories and prop up weak prices.

Of that amount, Russia undertook to reduce its output by 300,000 bpd by the end of April to a target of 10.947 million bpd from a 30-year high of 11.247 million bpd in October.

Rosneft said its average daily production of crude oil and gas condensate had however risen 13 percent year on year to 4.62 million barrels per day in the first quarter, thanks to the acquisition of Bashneft and the launch of new fields.

Natural gas output increased by 2.9 percent to 17.2 billion cubic metres in January-March, while daily hydrocarbon production reached 5.79 million barrels of oil equivalent.