Energy Opec+ grants Russia higher production baseline By Reuters June 14, 2023 Reuters/Angus Mordant Saudi Arabia is widely expected to roll over a voluntary oil cut of 1m barrels per day for a fourth consecutive month into October Opec+ has granted Russia a slightly higher oil production baseline after the country agreed to work with several think-tanks and agencies to review its output figures, Opec+ said. Oil production baselines are used by Opec to determine levels from which production cuts are made. Russia has made its production figures classified since the West imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. A higher baseline means Russia can produce more under the latest quotas than previously agreed. Opec+ said that under the latest figures, Russia’s crude oil production has been revised to 9.949 million barrels per day for February 2023 from 9.828 million bpd previously. “This will be considered as the updated required production for Russia for January 2024 to December 2024,” Opec+ said. The upwards revision amounts to 120,000 bpd or 6 million tonnes a year – enough to feed a small oil refinery. Opec agreed earlier this month to extend its existing output cuts into 2024. In May Russian production stood at 9.533 million, some 0.416 million lower than in February and slightly short of a voluntary cut of 0.5 million pledged by the country in April, according to the Opec statement.
