MOSCOW, February 11 (RIA Novosti) - Natural gas production at the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea will hit 70-90 billion cubic meters annually from 2010, the Russian finance minister said Saturday.

"We informed our partners about the development of the gas industry in Russia," Alexei Kudrin said after meeting G8 counterparts.

The gas from the deposit will be pumped through the North European Gas Pipeline, which will be laid across the Baltic Sea floor to link Russia and Germany directly.

Kudrin said the gas would be an additional source of stable energy supplies for Russia's partners, adding that Russia was ready to create conditions to supply not only Europe but the United States as well.

The Russian minister said the issue of liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation had been discussed at the meeting as well.

He said the partners had backed Russia's initiative to create conditions for the free circulation of data on oil and gas reserves in order to ensure energy market transparency.