FACT BOX: Russian Oil Output hits post-Soviet high in March

Russia’s oil output hit a post-Soviet record high monthly in March, Energy Ministry data revealed on Thursday.

Below are details about Russia’s oil output:

* Production reached an average of 10.71 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, up 0.6 percent from February, helped by higher production at Gazprom and Rosneft.

* Previous monthly high of 10.67 million bpd was posted in December.

* Russia’s oil production hit an all-time peak of 11.41 million bpd in 1988 when it was still part of the former Soviet Union, according to the International Energy Agency. Russia accounted for 90 percent of Soviet output.

* In 1991, in the final days of the Soviet Union, Russia’s output fell to 9.24 million bpd, off 19 percent from the 1988 peak. Many analysts say the slump and a drop in prices contributed to the fall of the 70-year-old Communist empire.

* In 1996, when Boris Yeltsin was re-elected as Russia’s president, oil production went into a three-year period of stagnation amid under-investment and slowing demand.

* Output fell by about 1 percent in 2008 to 9.8 million bpd, its first decline in a decade, as crude prices collapsed as a consequence of the global financial crisis.

* Output in September 2009 exceeded 10 million bpd for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It has stayed above that mark ever since.

* In 2010 Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest producer as new fields were launched, including Vankor, Uvat and Talakan.

Source: Reuters