More Russian Oil Drilling Shows its Resolve to OPEC

According to EDC, the Russian drilling market is based on long-term contracting, which results in lower pricing and less margins volatility, as compared to other countries more subject to the spot market.

Total drilling has more than doubled over the past decade to more than 22 million metres per year.

Russian oil production, which together with sales of natural gas account for half of state budget revenues, has been steadily rising since 1998, apart from a marginal decline in 2008.

According to official data, the number of producing wells in Russia has increased in 2014 to 146,279 from 143,875 in 2013.

The number of horizontal wells - a more efficient method of extracting oil - has increased by more than six times since 2005.

The number of wells in the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia, has also risen over the past year, according to data from OPEC - in steep contrast to fast declines in many other producing areas as a result of low oil prices.

In the United States, the number of oil rigs has fallen by 1,173 over the past year to 744 as the shale oil boom cools due to lower oil prices, according to oil services company Baker Hughes.