By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia is planning to raise its oil production by 1 percent year-on-year in 2012 to 516 million metric tonnes, the energy ministry said.
“We are expecting the increase (in oil output) at about 1 percent or around 5 million tonnes in 2012,” Deputy Energy Minister Sergei Kudryashov said Saturday in an interview with Rossiya-24 television.
Russia produced 511.4 million tonnes of crude in 2011, posting a 1.23 percent increase compared with 2010.
Kudryashov said that investment and production forecasts announced by Russian companies indicated that a 1 percent increase in oil production this year was an attainable goal.
The energy ministry is expecting oil production in Russia to average 510 metric tonnes annually until at least 2020.