Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday there were risks that Russia’s oil production could drop in 2023, under the pressure of a European Union embargo and a G7 price cap on Russian oil, Russian news agencies reported.

Russian oil production defied numerous predictions of a decline amid Western sanctions over Ukraine and rose by 2% last year to 535 million tonnes (10.7 million barrels per day) thanks to a jump in sales to Asia, especially, to India and China.
However, following a raft of new sanctions from the West, Russia is facing more challenges in holding up its production of oil, a key source of revenue for the state budget.

“Yes, there are such risks … we will evaluate them in the nearest future,” Novak said when asked about a possible oil production decline this year, TASS news agency reported.

The G7 economies, the European Union and Australia agreed to ban the use of Western-supplied maritime insurance, finance and brokering for seaborne Russian oil priced above $60 per barrel from Dec. 5 as part of Western sanctions on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.

The EU also slapped a ban on purchases of Russian oil products and set price caps from Feb. 5.

Russian oil producers increased output by almost 1% in the first week of February from January, despite the Western embargoes, the Kommersant daily reported on Thursday, citing data from an unidentified source.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Robert Birsel)