Russian Oil Output Rising Steadily

Russian oil output resumed steady growth, reaching 9.53 million barrels per day, rising 40,000 barrels per day in September, Energy Ministry data showed on Monday. It is the post-soviet period record.

Production grew 0.4 percent from August?s 9.49 million barrels per day. Output was also 1.2 percent higher than the 9.42 million barrels per day produced in September 2004, when production begun to stagnate after years of explosive growth.

Output averaged 9.38 million barrels per day between January-September 2005, up a mere 2.7 percent from a year earlier when it stood at 9.13 million barrels per day. Production grew by 9 percent in 2004 and by a record 11 percent in 2003.

Top producer Lukoil, No. 2 firm TNK-BP and state-owned Rosneft Oil Company were largely responsible for a boost in output in September, while production of the fallen firm Yukos was flat month-on-month after a long period of decline.

Analysts have blamed the collapse of oil major Yukos and high taxes for the stagnation in production growth, a factor that helped drive global prices higher.

Production growth resumed in June 2005 after eight months of stagnation, prompting some analysts to say the doldrums were over and growth rates should improve from October.