MOSCOW: Russia will cut oil exports by 500,000 barrels per day in August, President Vladimir Putin’s point man on oil said on Monday, as Moscow seeks to nudge up global oil prices.
Brent crude futures were up 89 cents to $76.30 a barrel by 0950 GMT after gaining 0.8% on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 85 cents at $71.49 a barrel, after closing 1.1% higher in the previous session.
“Within the efforts to ensure the oil market remains balanced, Russia will voluntarily reduce its oil supply in the month of August by 500,000 barrels per day by cutting its exports by that quantity to global markets,” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.
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Novak’s spokeswoman declined to say whether Russian oil output would also decline by the same amount.
Russia, whose exports have stayed strong despite Western sanctions, has already pledged to reduce its output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 9.5 million bpd from March until year-end.
Russia is the world’s second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, which will extend its voluntary oil output cut of 1 million bpd for another month to include August, the state news agency SPA said on Monday.
Igor Sechin, head of Russian energy major Rosneft, said last month that Russia was losing out to other OPEC+ countries due to a smaller share of its oil production being exported.
Sechin said some OPEC+ countries were exporting as much as 90% of their output, whereas Russia supplies the global market with only half of its production.
Russian Urals, crude oil prices in June averaged $55.28 a barrel, down from $87.25 a year earlier, and below Western price caps, the finance ministry said on Monday.
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