In a report that surprised many sector watchers, Russian oil production fell for the first time in a decade, based on year-over-year basis The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday (Subscription required).

Russia, the world's second biggest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia, averaged production of 10 million barrels per day during the first three months of this year -- a 1% drop in production when compared to the same period in 2007, The Associated Press reported Tuesday, citing International Energy Agency data.

Aging infrastructure or aging fields?

Analysts, oil industry executive, and economists will now begin the painstaking process of determining the exact cause of the production shortage. Russia has suffered from electricity shortages and poor weather conditions in oil production zones during the past year. In addition, despite Russia's impressive, 5-year economic boom and related development -- an economic expansion driven to a considerable degree by Russia's oil revenue -- the nation's oil infrastructure remains inadequate and in need of up to $50 billion in improvements and upgrades.

Independent energy trader Jim Dietz said if the current production drop stems from weather problems or infrastructure deficiencies, the oil market will largely overlook the decline, as a temporary dip.

As Russia continues to strive towards consolidation of its energy resources under state control, it looks like it is only a matter of time before BP plc (NYSE: BP) is going to get the boot from its Siberian Kovykta field. Russia has been threatening this action for about 4 years now, and earlier this week the company lost its appeal to keep Russia from revoking its license.

Russia has been working hard over the past year to regain control of the nation's oil reserves and today the state licensing agency is due to meet to discuss the possibility of killing BP's $20 billion license to the highly lucrative Kovykta field. Just how big is Kovykta? Plenty big, and it is estimated that there are enough oil reserves in the field to supply all of Asia's oil demand for five years, or supply the entire world's demand for oil for an entire year. I would say that is a pretty significant supply!