Russian oil output drops 1% to 9.73 million b/d in 2008

摘要

Moscow-Russia on January 2 confirmed its first annual crude oil production fall in 10 years, as average daily output slipped more than 1% to 9.73 million b/d from 9.83 million b/d in 2007. According to preliminary figures from the country’s energy ministry, Russian crude output in 2008 totaled 488.1 million mt. The fall, the first since 1998, was blamed on depleting oil fields and a heavy taxation regime that discouraged oil producers from making the massive investments required to bring new fields onstream.