Russia worried as oil production slides

Russia’s government has proposed urgent measures to halt a slide in oil production, which threatens to undermine the country’s petroleum-fuelled economic boom.

“All the proposals have been accepted and will be submitted to parliament at the end of this week,” Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov told journalists after the Presidium, a group of the most powerful ministers created by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, met to discuss the crisis on Monday.


News of falling oil output has hit Moscow political circles like a bomb, because energy exports now make up over 30 per cent of Russia’s gross domestic product and account for almost 70 per cent of government revenue.

The Kremlin has invested heavily in Russia’s image as an “energy superpower” and pledged to continue increasing the country’s output to meet rising demand, especially in Asia.

Hindustan Times