Russia losing to OPEC+ due to exports structure
While the Omicron coronavirus variant is rapidly taking hold, demand-side concerns are easing amid rising evidence that it is less severe than previous variants.. PHOTO: REUTERS
Igor Sechin, Head of the Russian energy giant Rosneft, said on Saturday that Russia is losing out to OPEC+ countries due to a smaller share of its oil exports in production.
Sechin, a long-standing ally of President Vladimir Putin, has said that the oil output boom in the United States, which is not a member of the OPEC+ group, was wielding more influence on the global oil market than other oil producers.
Speaking at an economic forum, Sechin said on Saturday that some OPEC+ oil-producing countries export as much as 90% of their output whereas Russia supplies the global market with only half of its production.
“That puts our country in a less advantageous position under the current mechanism for assessing the impact and access to key markets,” he said. “In this regard, it seems appropriate to monitor not only production quotas, but also oil export volumes, given the different sizes of domestic markets.”
OPEC+ accounts for around 40% of global oil production, while Rosneft occupies the same share in Russia’s oil output. “In coming years, humanity will face the problem of production capacities and OPEC countries will no longer be able to meet the growing demand,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 18th, 2023.
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