OPEC Raises Russia Oil Supply Forecast to 10.69Mln Bbl Per Day in 2015

According to the OPEC data, Russian oil supply is expected to increase by twenty thousand barrels per day.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has increased Russia’s oil production forecast to 10.69 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2015, OPEC said in its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) issued Tuesday.

"Russian oil supply is expected to increase by 20 tb/d [thousand barrels per day] to average 10.69 mb/d in 2015, revised up by 10 tb/d from the previous MOMR," the report said.

According to the OPEC data, Russian oil output declined in July by 70,000 barrels per day.

Explaining the slump, OPEC experts cited a temporary maintenance shutdown at Gazprom’s Surgut gas condensate plant. Meanwhile, Bashneft, Russia’s sixth largest crude producer, increased oil output to an average of 389,000 barrels per day, making the company Russia’s fastest growing oil producer.

In early June, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak announced that the country was planning to maintain current oil production of about 10.5 million barrels per day as part of its long-term oil market strategy for global energy security.