Dvorkovich hints at scale back in Russian oil production

Russian oil production: Russia may scale back on oil production if global prices remain low for a sustained period of time, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said today. “According to our estimates, [oil] production [may] decline in the  current environment …..although we may keep production at its present level [for the time being]. But if prices remain  low level for a long time, a certain decline is possible, and our partners in  other countries are aware of that,” he said, adding that Russia’s “oil sector will adjust itself to changes in the global environment.”
Dvorkovich also claimed, however, that the government did not have the power to directly regulate crude oil production and that this was down to the country’s oil producers  who made investment decisions within the existing regulatory and tax framework. “The government has no authority to increase or reduce production output within this regulatory system,” he explained, “and in the event  of low prices and higher taxes it is  clear that there will be less investment, which can also result in certain reduction of output,” he said.