Cold Spell to Cut 2006 Oil Output

Oil output growth this year will not exceed 2 percent, a figure lower than an earlier government forecast, because of a winter cold spell that brought temperatures to 50-year lows in some regions, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said.

“The frost especially affected the level of production of mineral resources, above all oil,” Gref told President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Friday. “By our forecast, we can reach production stabilization only by May.”

The Moscow Times