The OPEC+ alliance gives Russia a higher base level of production

The OPEC+ alliance said on Tuesday that it had given Russia a higher base level for oil production after it agreed to work with a number of research institutions and agencies to revise its production figures.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) uses base levels related to oil production to set the levels from which to start cutting production. Russia has stopped announcing its oil production figures since the West imposed sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Raising the base level would help Russia produce more oil than previously agreed upon.

And the OPEC + alliance said that, based on the latest figures, Russia’s crude oil production was revised to 9.949 million barrels per day for the month of February 2023, instead of 9.828 million barrels per day previously.

The move would help Russia raise production by 120,000 barrels per day, or six million tons annually, enough to feed a small oil refinery.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed earlier this month to extend the current production cuts until next year.

The OPEC statement indicated that Russian production reached 9.533 million in May 2023, about 0.416 million less than February 2023 and slightly less than the voluntary cut of 0.5 million that the country pledged in April 2023.