IRKUTSK, August 17 (RIA Novosti, Alexander Batalin) - The board of Russian-British oil giant TNK-BP has decided to allocate $270 to bring the Verkhnechonsk (Irkutsk region, Siberia) oil and gas field into experimental-industrial production, a company press release said.

The experimental-industrial production project will continue up until 2008. It involves developing infrastructure on the site and boring 20 wells into the ground, 13 of which will be used for pumping oil out of the reservoir and the other seven for pumping water, steam, or gas mixtures into the reservoir to raise reservoir pressure and aid extraction.

This project has been made possible by the Russian government's decision at the end of last year to begin building a pipeline from eastern Siberia to the Pacific Ocean.

TNK-BP considers its main goal to be to synchronize preparations of the Verkhnechonsk oil and gas field with Transneft's plans for constructing the first stage of a pipeline to Skovorodino (on the Chinese border). This will allow for supply of eastern Siberian oil to Russian consumers by 2008-2009, as well as to countries in the Asia-Pacific region.