Russia pumps record oil, pushes cuts

MOSCOW, December 2, 2016 – Russia pumped some 11.2 million bopd in November, a post-Soviet record it plans to use as a baseline for production cuts it helped negotiate this week, Russian officials said on Friday.

“The peak of daily production for November was 11.231 million barrels,” Russia’s deputy energy minister, Kirill Molodtsov told journalists. “All our agreements will clearly be formed around this figure.”

Such a baseline, some 500,000 bopd higher than what Russia produced in August, would more than compensate for the 300,000-bopd cut the Kremlin agreed on for 2017 in order to help clear the global oil supply glut.

The news came just as Reuters reported that Russia had played a pivotal role in bridging outstanding differences between OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Iran and pushing through the production cut deal struck on November 30. It highlights the fears of analysts who say that the deal is unlikely to be implemented properly.

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