(Recasts, adds detail)
MOSCOW, April 29 (Reuters) - Russian Energy Minister
Alexander Novak on Wednesday said the country's oil output could
fall by up to 15% this year, Interfax news agency reported,
representing its first annual decline since 2008.
Novak cited this month's deal between the Organization of
the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other large oil
producers to cut their combined oil output by almost 10 million
barrels per day (bpd) in May and June to combat slumping prices
in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
Russian oil output <C-RU-OUT> will decline to between 480
million and 500 million tonnes (9.6 million bpd to 10 million
bpd), from 2019's post-Soviet high of 560 million tonnes, Novak
said.
The 2008 decline in Russian oil output, as prices fell amid
the financial crisis, amounted to only 0.7%.
Novak also said that both foreign-operated and domestic oil
projects will reduce output as part of the global supply pact.
International oil majors, such as ExxonMobil and
Shell, are involved in several oil and gas projects in
Russia under production-sharing agreements signed in the 1990s.
Novak said that Russian companies will cut their production
by 19% from February levels as part of the OPEC-led deal,
Interfax reported.
(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Vladimir Soldatkin
Editing by Catherine Evans and David Goodman)
