Russian Oil Output Fell 0.4% in September, Continuing Decline

By Greg Walters

Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Russia's oil production declined in September as companies struggled with costs and maturing fields, bringing the world's second-largest crude exporter closer to its first annual drop in output since 1998.

Production fell to 9.83 million barrels of crude a day (40.2 million metric tons a month), 0.4 percent less than a year earlier, according to figures released by the Energy Ministry's CDU-TEK unit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Walters in Moscow gwalters1@bloomberg.net