Benefits to Russian budget from the OPEC+ deal amounted to 30 trillion rubles

By Rhod Mackenzie

Russian oil exports to the Asia-Pacific region (APR) amounted to 193 million tons in 2023. The OPEC+ deal has had an estimated 30 trillion ruble impact on the Russian budget. Pavel Sorokin, the First Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, announced this on January 27 during Energy Day at the international exhibition and forum 'Russia' at VDNKh.

Over the past year, total production amounted to 531 million tons, with 103 million tons coming from new fields. Investments in the oil industry have increased to 2.7 trillion rubles.

Sorokin also confirmed the Russian Direct Investment Fund's (RDIF) data on the OPEC+ deal, which has accumulated an effect of 30 trillion rubles for the Russian budget. He stated that this agreement has brought this amount to the Russian budget over the past eight years.

“We have established constructive and productive relations with OPEC+ partners, providing predictability in the global oil market. The budget has benefited by an estimated 30 trillion rubles over the last eight years,” he said.

On December 25, RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev announced in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel that the OPEC+ deal would generate an additional 30 trillion in budget revenues. He stated that Russia's income exceeds the volume of Russian assets frozen abroad by $300 billion. He attributed this success to Russia's collaboration with Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members.
Earlier on the same day, Nikolai Shulginov, the head of the Ministry of Energy, stated that Russia's oil production in 2024 is expected to remain at the same level as last year. Shulginov emphasized the importance of not only extracting resources but also developing hard-to-recover reserves and implementing OPEC recommendations.

On January 10, Bloomberg reported that Russia is maintaining record rates of oil production and actively opening new wells. This demonstrates the failure of Western sanctions. According to journalists, Russian oil companies drilled wells with a total depth of 28.1 thousand km over 11 months last year.