Russian oil producer Tatneft has cut its output by around a fifth this month, before a global supply deal takes effect in May, because storage capacity is full and European demand is weak, according to sources and data seen by Reuters.
Facing an historic oversupply, Russia and a number of other leading oil producing nations, a group known as OPEC+, agreed to jointly cut production by nearly 10 million barrels per day (bpd). Moscow has ordered companies to reduce production by a fifth from May 1.
But mid-sized producer Tatneft has taken pre-emptive action and already cut production because, unlike other Russian producers, it has no access to Asian markets and mainly supplies Europe, where demand has collapsed.
