Russian mid-sized oil producer Russneft RNFT.MM expects its oil production to decline 5% to 6.4 million metric tons (128,000 bpd) this year amid exports cuts, the company’s chief executive officer Evgeny Tolochek said on Wednesday.

He also confirmed that international trader Glencore GLEN.L has sold out of Russneft last year. He didn’t comment on the buyer or the value of the transaction.

Russia has been restraining its oil supply in tandem with the group of leading oil producers OPEC+ and is expected to reduce its overall oil output by around 1.5% to 527 million metric tons (10.54 million bpd) this year from 535 million in 2022.

Russneft’s former owner Mikhail Gutseriyev was sanctioned by the European Union in 2021 for close links with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko. He left company’s board in 2021 following the imposition of sanctions.

Glencore had helped Gutseriyev build Russneft from scratch since the early 2000s into a top-10 Russian oil firm by funding the company’sexpansion in return for oil export rights.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Lincoln Feast)