MOSCOW, February 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's natural gas export to non-CIS countries was up 2.6% in 2008, year-on-year, to 158.4 billion cu m, the Federal Customs Service said on Thursday.

It said gas export to countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was down 5.7% for the same period to 15.9 billion cu m.

Russia exported a total of 174.3 billion cu m of natural gas in 2008, worth $66.4 billion.

According to the Federal Statistics Agency, Russian gas production in 2008 grew 1.6%, year-on-year, to 663 billion cu m.