Russia’s daily oil output narrows gap over Opec+ cap

Bloomberg

Russia’s average daily oil production remained above its Opec+ target in October, though the compliance gap is the smallest since the Druzhba crude-contamination crisis earlier this year.
The country pumped 47.49 million tons of crude and condensate last month, according to preliminary data from the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit. That equals a daily average of 11.229 million barrels, based on the standard 7.33 barrels-per-ton conversion ratio, Bloomberg calculations show. That means Russia produced an average 39,000 barrels a day more than its Opec+ cap.
Under the agreement between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, Russia — one of the architects of the deal — committed to cut its daily output by 228,000 barrels from a baseline level of 11.418 million barrels.
Russia’s average daily October production was 211,000 barrels lower than the baseline, according to Energy Minister Alexander Novak. This indicates a compliance gap of just 17,000 barrels a day. In late October, average daily reductions reached 298,000 barrels, more than is required by the deal, Novak said.
The difference between Bloomberg calculations and figures from the Energy Ministry may be explained by a variation in methodology, as the Ministry uses an individual conversion ratio from tons to barrels for each field, whereas Bloomberg uses a unified ratio.
Russia has failed to meet its Opec+ obligations for seven months this year — with May, June and July the exceptions, when the country over-complied and cut production more deeply after contaminated crude was discovered in the Druzhba pipeline, forcing parts of the link to shut down.