MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Exports of Russian oil declined in 2018 by around 5 mln tonnes due to a number of factors, including the OPEC+ agreement to reduce production, Head of Transneft Nikolay Tokarev said on Friday in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel. "The export of oil actually declined by around 5 mln tonnes. There are not only objective reasons, but also decisions related to the OPEC agreement, when all OPEC participants and non-participants made the decision about reducing oil production," he said. According to the Federal Customs Service of Russia, in January-October 2018, Russian oil exports increased by 38.6% in value terms compared to the same period last year and reached $106.59 bln, but the volume of oil exports over 10 years months of this year decreased by 0.1% and amounted to 213.471 mln tonnes. At the end of 2016 Russia and OPEC concluded agreement on cooperation to stabilize the oil market. Other non-OPEC countries - Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Mexico, Oman and others also participate in it. The alliance, which became known as OPEC+, agreed to reduce production by 1.8 mln barrels per day from January 2017. Restriction of production was in force until July 2018, when, due to the sanctions against Iran and the dramatic decline of production in Venezuela, it was decided to restore production by 1 mln barrels per day. The real reduction by that time reached 2.8 mln barrels per day, that is, the deal was exceeded. However, in November, the sanctions against Iran did not work in full force, and at a meeting in Vienna on December 7, the OPEC+ countries once again decided to return to the restrictions. Reduction of production by 1.2 mln barrels per day will begin from January 2019 and will last until the end of the first half of the year. At the same time, taking into account external factors, the deal may be revised already in April.
Russian oil exports fell by about 5 million metric tonnes (mt) in 2018 due to factors including the OPEC+ agreement to decrease production, according to Nikolay Tokarev, president of the Russian oil pipeline company Transneft. Nevertheless, the value of the country’s oil exports between January and October 2018 grew 38.6% YoY, reaching $106.59, while volume fell by 0.1%, totalling 213.471 million mt. Russia and other non-OPEC countries forming OPEC+ will resume reducing oil production from January at 1.2 million bpd.