(Bloomberg) -- Russia increased its oil production in April thanks to a more generous OPEC+ quota.
The nation pumped 42.81 million tons of crude and condensate last month, according to preliminary data from the Energy Ministry's CDU-TEK unit. That equates to 10.46 million barrels a day, or 1.9% more than in March.
The data don't provide a breakdown between crude and condensate -- a light oil extracted from natural gas that's excluded from the OPEC+ deal -- making it difficult to assess Russia's compliance with its quota. If April condensate output was the same as in March, about 900,000 barrels a day, then crude production would be around 9.56 million barrels a day, some 180,000 barrels above Russia's quota.
Russia typically implements almost 100% of its pledged cuts, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said last week in an interview with state-run Rossiya 24 TV. According to the International Energy Agency, the nation's average compliance level was 95% from May 2020 to March 2021.
Between February and April, Russia and its neighbor Kazakhstan were the only nations allowed to increase production under the OPEC+ agreement. Other members kept their output flat, while Saudi Arabia voluntarily took an extra 1 million barrels a day off the market. In April, Russia's daily quota rose by 130,000 barrels, following a 65,000-barrel-a-day increase each month in February and March.
Last week, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies confirmed their plans to increase production by about 2 million barrels a day from May to July as global demand recovers. That will put the cartel back in line with the schedule established a year ago for phasing out its cuts, after postponing output hikes earlier this year.
Russia is set to increase production by 114,000 barrels a day from May to July, ramping up evenly over the period, Novak said last month.
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