Russia May Raise Crude Oil Exports if EU Ban Cuts Refining

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Alexander Novak said in an interview that Russia may increase crude oil exports if the EU ban on fuel imports results in lower refinery throughput.

Oil refining can be replaced by more oil exports if there are problems with the sale of products. He said there was a chance that the EU ban wouldn't affect Russian oil refining.

The EU ban on Russian oil-product imports takes effect on February 5.

Russia says it may cut daily oil output by hundreds of thousands of barrels.

Novak said on Sunday that Russia will produce up to 500 million tons of oil next year. Based on the 7.33 barrel-per-ton ratio, that equates to some 9.84 million to 10.06 million barrels per day.

Russia is expected to produce 535 million tons of oil this year, according to Novak.

James Herron helped with the project.