Russian oil output down for fourth month in a row

Russian oil output slipped by 0.2 percent to 10.54 million barrels per day in April, declining for the fourth month in a row as production from new fields failed to offset a slowdown from mature deposits.

This is the longest streak of declining monthly output for years and is a negative signal for the state budget, half of whose revenues come from sales of oil and gas.

Oil output has declined every month this year, after touching a post-Soviet monthly high of 10.63 million bpd in December.

Crude exports via the Transneft pipeline monopoly rose to 17.578 million tonnes from 16.792 million tonnes last month as demand for oil declined at domestic refineries during the maintenance season.

Rosneft’s production, which accounts for 40 percent of Russia’s output, was flat in April, at 3.8 million bpd. Output at Lukoil, Russia’s number two oil producer, dipped 0.2 percent. The company managed last year to arrest an output decline that lasted three years, thanks to new acquisitions. Production at Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of natural gas producer Gazprom, fell by 0.6 percent in April, month-on-month.