MOSCOW, June 14 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] could produce 670 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually by 2020, 14% more than previously planned, a deputy board chairman of the Russian energy giant said Thursday.
"If the market situation is positive or very positive, we could reach this production level," Alexander Ananenkov said.
Total natural gas output in 2010 is planned at a maximum of 560 billion cubic meters, but could be raised to 570 billion cubic meters if necessary, Ananenkov said.
The official said that the value of the company's current hydrocarbon reserves are estimated at $182.5 billion, excluding oil subsidiary Gazprom Neft, whose reserves are worth $24 billion.
Including Gazprom Neft, the aggregate value of Gazprom's oil and gas reserves stands at $206.5 billion, he said.
Ananenkov also said natural gas output at the Shtokman natural gas deposit off Russia's Arctic coast could reach 94 billion cubic meters a year.
The giant Shtokman field holds an estimated 3.2 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 31 million metric tons of gas condensate in the Barents Sea, where Gazprom plans to build a liquefied natural gas plant. Some $12-14 billion will be invested in the project's first phase, and production will begin in 2011.
The Shtokman deposit is the only source of natural gas for the ambitious Nord Stream gas pipeline that will link Russia to Germany along the Baltic seabed.
