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Yukos to Cut With OPEC

The main unit of No. 2 Russian oil firm Yukos will keep exports at a maximum while crude prices are high but could cut output if prices eased, according to its head. Tagirzyan Gilmanov, head of Yuganskneftegaz in Western Siberia's Khanti-Mansiisk region, said his company had fields that could be idled if oil prices fell outside the target $22-to-$28-a-barrel range favored by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Yukos to Cut With OPEC

The main unit of No. 2 Russian oil firm Yukos will keep exports at a maximum while crude prices are high but could cut output if prices eased, according to its head.
Tagirzyan Gilmanov, head of Yuganskneftegaz in Western Siberia's Khanti-Mansiisk region, said his company had fields that could be idled if oil prices fell outside the target $22-to-$28-a-barrel range favored by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
"I think that if Russian exports started to affect the world market, we would need to support OPEC's attempts to keep prices at around $25 a barrel," said Gilmanov, whose firm accounted for over 60 percent of Yukos' 49.5 million tons output last year.
"A fall in the oil price would be bad for all producers," he added, noting that prices look set to remain high until at least the end of the year.
"But these things are cyclical, and we need to be aware that today's prices can't last forever," Gilmanov said.
He added that production at five of Yuganskneftegaz's 28 oil fields could be cut or halted if prices fell.
Gilmanov could not give export figures for Yuganskneftegaz, saying the subsidiary's oil goes to Yukos, which exports around 40 percent of production.
He said it would be difficult to increase exports sharply immediately because export pipelines are full.
He added that Yukos would be able to export 5 million tons of crude a year through Lithuania's Mazheikiu Nafta pipeline.
The firm as a whole aims to produce 41 million tons of oil (823,000 barrels per day) in 2002, up from an expected 36.3 million tons this year and rising to 44.6 million tons by 2003
Neftegaz.ru