According to Reuters article published on February 21, 2023, a 500,000 barrel-per-day cut to Russian oil production announced this month will apply only to March output for now, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday, according to news agency reports.
"We will watch how the situation on the market develops, and decisions... will be made from this. Now, the decision is for March," the TASS news agency reported him as saying.
The cut will be made from January output levels, Novak added. He has said production stood at 9.8 million-9.9 million bpd last month.
A European Union ban on purchases of Russian oil products from Feb. 5 and price caps on oil and oil products are complicating Moscow's efforts to sell its oil globally.
Russia's decision to cut oil production was announced only nine days after oil producer group OPEC+ - of which Russia is a member - agreed to leave production cuts agreed last year in place.
Novak said earlier this month that Russia had not held any formal consultations on its output cuts, though the Kremlin has said that Russia had held talks with some members of OPEC+ regarding its decision.
Russia's seasonal plans to crank up refinery maintenance in spring, cutting demand for crude as feedstock, should help the country to weather the production cuts.
According to maintenance plans, Russia's primary idle refining capacity is set to almost double in March to 947,000 tonnes from 493,000 in February. That will rise further in April and May, to 3.108 million and 3.907 million tonnes respectively.
The rise in spare refining capacity is in line with usual seasonal patterns.
