a flame burns from a tower at vankorskoye oil field owned by rosneft company north of the russian siberian city of krasnoyarsk march 25 2015 reuterssergei karpukhinfile photo may 31 reuters  russian oil companies led by rosneft rosnmm plan to reopen wells in june which they had shut due to western sanctions four sources said as firms bank on a pickup in seasonal demand and sustained asian buying it was not immediately clear how big the increase could be nor how it might be affected by eu plans announced on monday to slash russian crude imports by up to 90 by yearend read more between may 1 and 30 russian oil production increased to 1019 million barrels per day bpd from 1005 million bpd in april the interfax news agency reported that however was nearly 1 million bpd below levels before the west imposed sanctions on moscow sources said russian companies plan to ramp up output in hopes of a summer pickup in domestic demand and as russia increases seaborne supply to buyers such as india and china read more at first there were many concerns on how sales would proceed but now the situation has settled a bit and demand for russian barrels has improved a source who sells russian oil abroad told reuters companies have cut back production in central russia while keeping output little changed in northern and siberian fields further east where cold weather complicates restarting wells sources have said those set to restart from june 1 include rosneft units in the volga river region of samara and in orenburg on the border with kazakhstan as well as fields operated by bashneft banemm which sit in between the two an industry source familiar with the plans said a second source confirmed that rosneft and a number of other smaller companies are ramping up production rosneft and the energy ministry did not reply to reuters requests for comment deputy prime minister alexander novak said this month that oil production was to rise in june but did not provide figures read more a third source a highranked oil executive said summer demand was set to rise as russians flock to their summer houses or dachas and as other holiday options are limited due to sanctions read more but he warned that the growth would be limited a modest increase in production is temporary this reflects a hope for a seasonal spike in demand and catching some luck selling some more volumes ahead of the eus plan to halt most imports the oil executive said overall the companies are targeting average oil production this year of 480 million tonnes or 964 million bpd as per earlier novaks forecast the executive said a fourth source at a major russian oil producer said oil from other producers being diverted to europe would create market opportunities for russian sellers they europeans will be paying 57 euros for gasoline and as they will need to take it from somewhere we will ship our oil to where they will take it from the source said