Russian oil output up by 100,000 bpd in June as production curbs eased

MOSCOW: Russian average monthly oil output exceeded 11 million barrels per day (bpd) in June for the first time since April 2017 as leading global oil producers started to ease output curbs, Energy Ministry data showed on Monday.

Production rose to 11.06 million bpd in June from 10.97 million bpd in May, up around 100,000 bpd. In tonnes, Russian oil output was 45.276 million versus 46.377 million in May.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and some other leading global oil producers led by Russia agreed last month to return to 100 percent compliance with previously agreed oil output cuts, after months of underproduction by some OPEC countries.

Russia has pledged to restore output by 200,000 bpd in the second half of the year.

The country's largest oil producer Rosneft led the output increase, ratcheting up extraction by 1.6 percent last month to 3.89 million bpd, the data showed. The energy ministry's data does not include some of Rosneft's joint ventures.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia also boosted supply to 10.70 million barrels per day in June, close to a record high.

The deal, which has been in place since early 2017, was aimed at smoothing out bloated global oil stockpiles and supporting oil price.

Initially, Russia said it would cut its production by 300,000 bpd from a record-high level of 11.247 million bpd reached in October 2016, the baseline for the current global deal which expires by the end of the year.

For the first half of the year, Russian oil output declined by 0.4 percent to 271.1 million tonnes year-on-year.

In an interview that aired on Sunday, US President Donald Trump lashed out at OPEC with a warning to stop manipulating oil markets and piled pressure on close US allies.

Russia's natural gas production was at 53.57 billion cubic metres (bcm) last month, or 1.79 bcm a day, versus 58.12 bcm in May.