MOSCOW, February 6 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom Neft, the oil producing arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom, said on Wednesday it expected to boost annual crude output by 0.9%, year on year, in 2008 to 33 million metric tons (242 million bbls).

Gazprom Neft, known as Sibneft before it was taken over by Gazprom in September 2005, said it had managed to stabilize crude output at 32.7 million metric tons (240 million barrels) in 2007 - the same amount produced by the company in 2006.

At the same time, Alexander Dyukov, the company's president, earlier said Gazprom Neft intended to boost crude output to 80-90 million metric tons (586-660 million barrels) per year by 2020 and that oil refining would account for at least two-thirds of crude production.

Gazprom Neft, which signed a deal on the purchase of a 51% stake in the Serbian state-owned oil monopoly Naftna Industrija Srbije during talks between the two countries' leaders in Moscow in late January, is interested in buying other refining assets in Europe in the long-term, Dyukov said.

Gazprom Neft, which bought a 50% stake in Tomskneft from state oil company Rosneft in late December, would like to acquire the remaining 50% stake in the west Siberian oil producer, most likely by way of an asset swap, Dyukov said.

The president also said Gazprom Neft's proven reserves were expected to reach at least 2.2 billion metric tons [16 billion barrels] by 2020.