Russia's May oil output fell close to OPEC+ target - ministry

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian oil production, excluding gas condensate, fell to 8.59 million barrels per day (bpd) in May, near country's target under a an OPEC+ pact, the energy ministry said on Tuesday.

The Interfax news agency, citing ministry data, had earlier said that Russian oil and gas condensate production declined to 39.7 million tonnes (9.39 million bpd) in May. That was in line with data from sources, reported by Reuters on Monday, and down from 11.35 million bpd in April.

Under the agreement between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other producers, a group known as OPEC+, Moscow has pledged to reduce output by about 2.5 million bpd to 8.5 million bpd to support oil prices. The deal does not include gas condensate, a light oil.

The ministry does not disclose separate gas condensate output figures on a monthly basis.

Interfax also said that Russian oil exports outside the former Soviet Union reached 17.36 million tonnes, or 4.1 million bpd, in May. That was down 14.2% year on year.

OPEC+ agreed to cut its combined output by about 10 million bpd, or 10% of global oil production, in May and June, in response to the coronavirus crisis and its impact on oil demand.

The producer group is expected to bring forward to Thursday an online conference to discuss policy. The meeting had been scheduled for next week. The group is due to discuss extending the latest supply cuts beyond June.

Interfax also said that Russia's Jan-May natural gas production fell by 9.2% year on year to 293.26 billion cubic metres.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Olesya Astakhova and Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Louise Heavens and David Goodman)