Putin to oversee launch of Vostochno-Messoyakha oilfield

MOSCOW, Sept 20 (Reuters) -Vostochno-Messoyakha, Russia’s northernmost onshore oilfield, will start production on Wednesday, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, just days before a major oil producers’ meeting.

President Vladimir Putin will watch the launch of the oilfield, jointly developed by Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, via a video link.

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Gazprom Neft’s web site put the reserves of the field and the adjacent Zapadno-Messoyakha at over 470 million tonnes of oil and 180 billion cubic metres of gas, enabling Russia, the world’s topoil producer, to increase its production further.

Several OPEC producers have called for an output freeze to contain an oil glut that has triggered a price collapse in the last two years, hitting the revenues of major producers.

Russia’s oil output is seen rising 2.2 percent this year, above expectations, to reach almost a 30-year high of 546-547 million tonnes as companies ramp up drilling.

Russia has constantly exceeded forecasts for oil production which has been on a steady rise since 2009 when a slump in oil prices dragged down output.

Since then, Russian companies have increased drilling by around 10 percent per year.

Russia will attend an informal meeting in Algiers next week with other major oil producers.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Dmitry Solovyov/Ruth Pitchford)

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