ANALYSIS – After record August, can Russia pump more oil in 2009?

LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Official opinion conflicts with analysts’ views over whether production from Russia’s new oil fields can replace the fall from older deposits after record August output.

Analysts say the recent uptick might not be enough to offset stagnating western Siberia deposits, and it could be decades before sufficient infrastructure is in place to exploit new reserves in eastern Siberia.

“The real question is going to be how steep the decline comes…and what steps the Russian government is willing to take to improve investment in those fields,” said senior energy analyst Julian Lee at the Centre for Global Energy Studies.

Russia, the world’s second-largest exporter, produced 9.97 million barrels per day (mbpd) in August, up 0.6 percent from July and up 1.5 percent from August 2008, recovering after last year’s first drop in a decade.

Reuters