Russia withholds its information about the volume of oil production and export...why?

Moscow -

The decision of the Russian Ministry of Energy to suspend the publication of oil production and export data, whether in the domestic market or abroad, has raised questions among observers about the motives behind it at this time, especially as it would cast a shadow over the expectations of the global market's need for oil, to As well as its effects on the methodology that will be developed and adopted for the pricing of oil.

This decision coincided with the announcement by Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov that what he described as "constructive-minded countries" are currently exploring the possibility of paying in rubles, which the Russian President announced last March, as urgent measures to confront the growing sanctions imposed on Russia. It included a ban on importing oil and gas from Russia and a ban on dealings with the Russian Central Bank.

Unprecedented sanctions in the history of international relations resulted in the freezing of about half of the country's foreign currency reserves, and the paralysis of the assets of the Russian Central Bank in the United States and elsewhere, as well as the freezing of the assets of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

Precaution procedure

Usually the central dispatch department of the Russian Fuel and Energy Complex publishes information about the complex's work every second day of the new month, but the current April 2 statistics have not been released.

Initially, this was attributed to technical reasons, before the division announced after two days of discreetness that from April 8th it will no longer provide information on crude oil production by producers, as well as oil supply data for the domestic market, and other indicators.

Russian experts attribute the decision to prevent the publication of statistics and data on Russian oil production and exports to the possibility of Western countries using them to pressure Russian companies and the market as a whole.

The Russian economist, Alexander Dodchak, explains that the exceptional conditions experienced by the global economy indicate the beginning of the transition phase to a new world that will provide Russia with greater potential than it was in the past, after liberating it from the conditions imposed on it by the Western system during the nineties of the last century.

The Russian expert placed the decision to stop publishing information about Russian oil production and export in the context of responding to the “aggressive media war” against Russia, as he put it, and that its goal was to stop the pressures exerted on the Russian markets and its participants.

 economic stability

Alexander Dudchak added that Russia not only possesses oil, but also information about the volume of its extraction and the parties that sell it to.

Accordingly, and in light of the harsh penalties that were taken against it, it no longer sees itself obligated to involve those who are not interested in obtaining this information, because it may be useful to the opponents.

According to him, preventing the publication of data on Russian oil production and export in the current circumstances is in the interest of the country's economic stability.

Otherwise, it can be used to put more pressure on companies and the Russian market as a whole, because industry statistics are very sensitive to manipulations, especially in the context of sanctions.

For his part, Vladimir Olinchenko, a researcher at the Institute of World Economic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed to the lack of trust that has taken root in Russian relations with the West in light of the war with Ukraine, and this was evident in the decision of the Russian Energy Ministry.

 Is it settling accounts?

Vladimir Olinchenko says that the media war has taken all the weapons in the battle of "settlement of scores" between the two sides, as the West, especially the United States, resort to accusing Russia, using abstract information.

This brought to mind the statements of US President Joe Biden in recent days, in which he accused Moscow of being behind the rise in oil prices in the United States, despite the fact that the volume of Russian oil there does not exceed 3%.

He added that the Russian statements can be used in the context of the media war, and thus influence global public opinion and in the West in particular, and accordingly - the same speaker continues - it is a mistake to continue publishing these statements.

Olichenko did not rule out the presence of the factor influencing the oil pricing policy in the considerations of the Ministry of Energy, due to the role of this information in stock exchange trading, which is usually sensitively affected by political, economic and military situations, which was evident from the events in Ukraine.

He expressed his belief that the Russian measure could be the same to limit the impact of these data and data on changing oil prices.

Russia is the third largest oil producer in the world after the United States of America and Saudi Arabia, with a production volume of more than 10 million barrels per day. Before the war on Ukraine, it exported about 5 million barrels per day, more than 4 million barrels of it to Europe and the United States.

Russia is also the second largest natural gas producer in the world, and provides about 40% of Europe's natural gas supplies.