Russia may raise crude exports if EU ban hits sale of petro products

Russia may increase its crude oil exports if the European Union ban on imports of the nation's fuel results in lower refinery throughput, vice prime-minister Alexander Novak said in an interview to Tass.

"If there are problems with the sale of petroleum products, oil refining to some extent can be replaced by additional volumes of oil exports," Novak said. There's still a possibility that the EU ban won't affect Russian oil refining at all, he said.

The EU's ban on Russian oil-product imports comes in force from February 5, and is on top of the crude imports restriction imposed from early December.

Russia will produce at least some 490 million to 500 million tons of oil next year, Novak said on Sunday reiterating his earlier estimates. That's the equivalent to some 9.84 million to 10.04 million barrels per day, based on the 7.33 barrel-per-tonne ratio.

This year Russia may produce 535 million tons of oil, Novak said on Friday in an interview with Rossiya-24 TV channel.