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Feb 10 (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister
Alexander Novak said on Friday there were risks that Russia's
oil production could drop in 2023, under the pressure of a
European Union embargo and a G7 price cap on Russian oil,
Russian news agencies reported.
Russian oil production defied numerous predictions of a
decline amid Western sanctions over Ukraine and rose by 2% last
year to 535 million tonnes (10.7 million barrels per day) thanks
to a jump in sales to Asia, especially, to India and China.
However, following a raft of new sanctions from the West,
Russia is facing more challenges in holding up its production of
oil, a key source of revenue for the state budget.
"Yes, there are such risks ... we will evaluate them in the
nearest future," Novak said when asked about a possible oil
production decline this year, TASS news agency reported.
The G7 economies, the European Union and Australia agreed to
ban the use of Western-supplied maritime insurance, finance and
brokering for seaborne Russian oil priced above $60 per barrel
from Dec. 5 as part of Western sanctions on Moscow over its
actions in Ukraine.
The EU also slapped a ban on purchases of Russian oil
products and set price caps from Feb. 5.
Russian oil producers increased output by almost 1% in the
first week of February from January, despite the Western
embargoes, the Kommersant daily reported on Thursday, citing
data from an unidentified source.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Robert
Birsel)
