CEO says Gazprom Neft could slow oil output growth

MOSCOW, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian state gas firm Gazprom, could slow its oil output growth compared with the current plan if needed, its Chief Executive Alexander Dyukov told Rossiya 24 TV.

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Gazprom Neft said earlier this month it was not ready to cut output and had not been asked to do so as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) tries to flesh out the details of a plan to cap global oil production.

“If we talk about Gazprom Neft, then there is of course a technical possibility to reduce or stabilise production,” Dyukov said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday.

OPEC last month agreed on a modest production cap. Details of how it can be done by the group’s members, and non-OPEC producers like Russia which may join the process, are expected to become clearer towards the end of November.

The Russian government has said that it was talking to domestic oil companies about the OPEC proposals.

According to Dyukov, “temporary output stabilisation” is being discussed now but it would be an uneasy step for Gazprom Neft as it planned to continue raising its production in 2017-2019.

“If one takes a look at the Russian industry, some companies are raising output, some of them are reducing it, and we hope that altogether everything can end up that we somewhat reduce pace of the production growth, but, however, manage to keep a small production growth.”

(Reporting by Polina Devitt; editing by Adrian Croft)

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