Russia's Gazprom Neft says oil production recovered to pre-Covid levels

Gazprom Neft, Russia's fastest-growing oil company in terms of output, has restored its production to pre-COVID levels, Vadim Yakovlev, the company's first deputy chief executive, said.
 

In comments cleared for publications on Wednesday, he also said that the company is ready to tackle curbs on Russian oil from the West over what Moscow calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine, which forced Russian companies to seek new markets and cut supplies to Europe and the United States.
 

Many countries have imposed sanctions on Russia, but key oil consumers China and India have stepped up imports of discounted Russian barrels to record levels.
 

Russian oil production has proved resilient and has defied predictions of a steep decline following sweeping Western restrictions.

European Union leaders earlier this year agreed an embargo on Russian crude oil imports that will take full effect by the end of this year.
 

"As far as the oil embargo is concerned, the restrictions, which are being created, regulatory, logistic ones, do not have a direct impact on total demand," Yakovlev said.
 

"It leads to overhaul of logistic routes as we leave for new markets," he added.
 

He said such "ineffective" logistics inflate delivery costs.
 

In 2021, Gazprom Neft produced some 101 million tonnes of hydrocarbons, including 62 million tonnes of crude oil.
 

The manager has declined to disclose latest production figures and forecasts publicly.
 

(Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Jonathan Oatis)