Russian oil output this month has not fallen from December levels despite Western sanctions and price caps, the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as saying on Thursday.

“January has not ended yet, but now (production) is at the level of December,” Interfax cited Novak as saying.

Russia’s oil production proved resilient in 2022, helped in part by buying by China and India.

Novak said in December that Russia may cut oil output by 5%-7%, or 500,000-700,000 barrels per day (bpd), in early 2023.

“We said that we have risks of a production decline, but so far we have not seen a decrease in production,” Novak said on Thursday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey)