Russia Plans to Maintain Oil Production Volume

MAKHACHKALA (Sputnik) — Russia is not planning to reduce its oil production despite negative global demand and oil price trends, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday.

"We have no intentions to reduce the production volume. Overall, we estimate the total production of about 525 million tonnes per year…," Novak told reporters.

Global oil prices have halved since summer 2014, when the price of Brent crude stood at about $115 per barrel. Current oil prices hover around $50 per barrel. In November 2014, OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, chose not to decrease its oil output, accelerating a global oversupply and a price decline.

According to the federal budget documents published in October, the volume of oil production in Russia was expected to surpass the 2014 figure by 0.8 percent in 2015 with 531 million tonnes produced.

On Tuesday, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Fatih Birol said that Russia's oil production continued to be resilient, despite low oil prices, and Russia would remain one of the key players in the oil market.