Russian oil output edged up 0.6 percent in March to a post-Soviet high of 10.71 million barrels per day on increased production at Gazprom and Rosneft, Energy Ministry data showed on Thursday. The output topped December’s high of 10.67 million barrels per day (bpd), the data showed. The data includes output for crude oil and gas condensate which reached 45.275 million tonnes in March, versus 40.696 million the month before. Crude oil exports through oil pipeline monopoly Transneft rose by 2 percent to 3.91 million bpd, the ministry said. Oil and natural gas production accounts for half of Russian budget revenue, which has been hit by a 50 percent plunge in oil prices since June and Western sanctions over Moscow’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis. Oil and gas condensate production at Gazprom, the world’s top natural gas producer, jumped by 14 percent in March […]