(Bloomberg) -- Russia plans to make extra crude production cuts to compensate for pumping above its OPEC+ quota in the warm seasons of this year and next, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Moscow’s additional curbs will most likely happen in summer and early fall for technological reasons, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information isn’t public. Also, the nation needs more crude for domestic consumption during the cold months, they said.
Russia, currently the largest crude producer among the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, has also been one of the group’s principal laggards in implementing the supply agreement intended to shore up global prices. Last month, the nation pledged to compensate for overproduction that has occurred since April, with the compensation period set to last through September 2025.
Ever since the start of its cooperation with OPEC, Russia has said it can’t cut production significantly in late autumn and in winter due to the geology of its oil fields and climate conditions.
The extra curbs are expected to happen at Western Siberian fields, where production can be regulated, the people said. That is Russia’s more mature oil province, producing lower-quality oil than East Siberian projects pumping the premium ESPO crude blend.
Russia missed its deadline to present the compensation schedule to OPEC’s secretariat by June 30, but aims to publish it soon, the people said.
The Energy Ministry didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Russia has been implementing two sets of voluntary production cuts in cooperation with several OPEC+ nations, including Saudi Arabia. In the second quarter, Moscow pumped an excess of about 14.7 million barrels, according to Bloomberg calculations based on OPEC’s monthly reports. That’s equivalent to less than two days of the nation’s current crude production, the calculations show.
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