MOSCOW, February 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russian natural gas producer Itera said on Monday it had no plans to cut gas output in 2009 and could even boost it by 6.5% to 12.25 billion cubic meters.

Itera CEO Vladimir Makeyev said last year the company produced around 11.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

At the same time, Makeyev said the financial crisis and consumers' non-payments could prompt the company to cut gas sales to consumers from about 24 billion cubic meters in 2008 to 23 billion cubic meters in 2009 through cuts in the purchase of gas from outside organizations.

The Itera head also said the company would cut investment in non-core assets and reduce investment in priority projects in 2009 due to the crisis.

Itera has filed an application to develop two gas fields off the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea, Makeyev said.