UPDATE 2 -Russian Aug oil output falls, to rise in Sept-UPDATE 2
Trade the News
Thursday September 02, 2010 02:13:13 AM GMT
* Oil production drops to 10.06 million barrels per day
* Decline attributed to Sakhalin oilfield maintenance
* Output to rise again in Sept - analysts
* Gas output falls to 1.39 bln cubic metres per day
(Adds background, details, quotes)n
By Jessica Bachman
MOSCOW, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Oil output in Russia, the world's largest producer, fell in August for the first time since January but is set to pick up again this month now that maintenance work is complete on a Pacific-coast oilfield.
Crude production dropped to 10.06 million barrels per day (bpd) in August from a record high of 10.14 million bpd in July due to an expected production halt for the whole month at Sakhalin-1, an Exxon-led project in Russia's Far East.
State Energy Ministry data showed on Thursday that Russia's overall oil production fell by 0.8 percent to a seven-month low, with production at fields operating under production-sharing agreements (PSA) including Sakhalin-1 down 61 percent from July.
"This is what ruined the production statistics this month, but the Sakhalin-1 maintenance was completely expected by the market," said Denis Borisov, an oil analyst at the Bank of Moscow.
To see a table of Russian oil production and exports in August, please click on.
The decline came after Russian crude production rose for seven consecutive months.
Crude production at PSA projects fell to 5 million barrels from 8 million barrels in July, and analysts say the majority of the decline can be attributed to the production halt at Sakhalin-1's Sokol oilfield.
Sakhalin-1, in which Russia's largest oil company Rosneft has a 20 percent stake, will launch the second of three fields included in the project later this month, which is expected to produce 30,000 bpd at its peak.
Crude output at Russia's top three producers, Rosneft, LUKOIL and TNK-BP, also fell by around 0.2 percent month-on-month in August, which analysts said was linked to waning influence of large greenfield projects.
"Rosneft's Vankor production peaked in June, and from now output from it will be stable. In prior months that was what was driving the company's rise in output," said Boriov.
Production at Gazprom's oil arm, Gazprom Neft, fell 0.55 percent. Only Surgutneftegaz managed a slight increase.
"Year-on-year Gazpromneft has seen a 10 percent decline at their largest production asset, Noyabrskneftegas. Output has been falling since 2005. This month it was 1 percent down from July," said Valery Nesterov, an oil analyst at Troika Dialog.
GAS CONTINUES TO FALL
Russia's natural gas production continued to fall as demand dropped on the home front and abroad during a summer heat wave, which slowed domestic industrial production growth to an eight-month low.
To see a table of Russia's gas production in August, click on.
Russia's overall gas output fell to 1.39 billion cubic metres (bcm) per day in August from 1.42 bcm per day in July, while daily production at energy giant Gazprom was cut to 1.06 bcm per day in August from 1.08 bcm in July. (Reporting by Jessica Bachman; editing by Anthony Barker and Jane Baird)
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