21-06-99 Russia's State Statistics Agency announced recently that 45.9 million metric tons of crude oil worth $ 2.1 billion had been exported in the first four months of the year.
By contrast, Russia exported 43.2 million metric tons of oil worth $ 2.5 billion in the same period of 1998. Some 38.6 million tons of the total volume of oil exported in January-April 1999 went to former communist countries in Eastern and Central Europe, the State Statistics Committee stated.
It also noted that crude oil accounted 14.4 % of all Russian goods exported in the first four months of this year, compared to 15.5 % in the same interval of last year.The committee further stated that 24.9 million metric tons of oil had been produced in May, up from 24.1 million metric tons the previous month.

Meanwhile, Russia's Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy Anatoly Yanovsky said he expected first-half oil production to total 145 million metric tons, down slightly on the year-ago figure of 145.6 million metric tons. (Some 96 million metric tons of oil were produced in the first four months of the year, meaning that the June figure will be 24.1 million metric tons if Yanovsky is correct.)