October 5, 2002	Saturday	Rajab 27, 1423

MOSCOW, Oct 4: Russian oil exports, including transit volumes from neighbouring Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, rose in September by 80,000 bpd, while output hit another post-Soviet high, an Energy Ministry source said on Friday.

Industry sources and traders said shipments from the world’s second largest oil exporter have almost reached their ceiling as all major ports and pipelines were working at capacity.

They also warned that Russia may have a domestic oil glut and a local price collapse within a month or two if it does not curb its ambitious output hike plan for the fourth quarter.

The data supplied by the Energy Ministry source showed that crude oil production, booming for the fourth consecutive year in Russia, rose again in September to 7.84m bpd from 7.76m bpd in August. Russia exported 3.34m bpd of its own and transit crude to international markets in Sept, up from 3.26m bpd in August.—Reuters