The operation of new Russian oil wells witnessed a noticeable increase in the first quarter of 2023, despite the voluntary reduction in production announced by Moscow until the end of the year.
Russian oil companies began operating 2,001 new oil wells in the first three months of the year, up 10 percent on an annual basis, according to the Russian newspaper Vedomosti, citing two sources familiar with the statistics of the Energy Ministry.
The press office of the Ministry of Energy said that the government is working with oil and gas companies to ensure the replacement and growth of oil reserves, according to information seen by the specialized energy platform.
This step comes to maintain current production volumes and increase them in the future, including through the operation of new fields, according to what was published by the Vedomosti newspaper, citing the Ministry of Energy.
Rising operation of new Russian oil wells
This increase in the operation of new Russian oil wells came in light of Russia’s commitment to a voluntary reduction in oil production by 500,000 barrels per day from February until the end of 2023.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said, last week, that Russia’s production of oil and gas condensate is expected to decline to about 515 million tons (10.3 million barrels per day) this year, from 535 million tons (10.7 million barrels per day) in 2022, according to what was reported. Reported by Reuters.
The increase in the operation of new wells came from the major oil companies, which increased the operation of wells by 11% to 1829 wells.
Other producers, including independent oil companies, cut well operations by 3% to 171 wells, Vedomosti reported.
Another well was commissioned in the first quarter of 2023 by the production sharing agreement operator of the Sakhalin-2 project.
Russia is committed to reducing oil production
For his part, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said today, Thursday (May 4, 2023), that his country is committed to its voluntary pledge to reduce oil production by 500,000 barrels per day from February until the end of the year.
Russia is part of the OPEC+ alliance, some of whose members announced a joint additional cut of more than 1 million barrels per day from May 2023 until the end of the year, to keep the market in balance.
“Taking into account the unfounded speculation in the press about oil production levels, Russia reaffirms its full commitment and implementation of voluntary oil production cut levels,” Novak said in a statement.
He added, “The target level for voluntary production cuts is 500,000 barrels per day from the level of February until the end of 2023.. and monitoring will be carried out according to independent sources,” according to statements seen by the specialized energy platform, quoting Reuters.
He pointed to a cut in Russian oil exports to the EU via pipeline by two-thirds, but was partially offset by seaborne exports.
The following graph – prepared by the specialized energy platform – shows Russia’s production of oil and liquid fuels, from January 2022 to February 2023:
A fire in a Russian refinery
In another context, product storage facilities at one of the largest oil refineries in southern Russia caught fire as a result of a drone attack, according to the Tass news agency.
However, emergency services put out the fire at the Elsky refinery after just over two hours, and the refinery is now operating normally; As it was able to control the repercussions of the accident, and the conditions that led to the fire and the extent of damage are being assessed, according to what was published by the Russian Agency, quoting the media office of the refinery.
The Elsky refinery, near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar region, has a processing capacity of about 6.6 million tons per year, according to Reuters.
“A second turbulent night for our emergency services,” Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram, adding that tanks containing oil products were on fire at the Elsky refinery.
Kondratyev confirmed that there were no injuries, citing initial reports, and did not say how the fire started.
The day before, a fuel depot had caught fire in the west, near a bridge connecting mainland Russia and Crimea.
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