Russia May Increase Oil Production in 2008 – Natural Resources Official

PARIS. May 28 (Interfax) – Russia may post an increase in oil production in 2008, the head of the Natural Resources and Ecology Ministry’s department for state policy and resource use regulation Sergei Fyodorov told journalists on Wednesday.

“We will either post a production gain or stay at the same level as 2007,” he said.

Fyodorov rejected the notion that Russian oil production has peaked. “We will have growth until 2020,” he said.

Production could reach 600 million tonnes a year by 2020, given annual growth of 3%-5% until then, he said.

But he acknowledged that growth will be lower this year. “That level of increase is realistic next year, primarily with production from Eastern Siberia,” he said.

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