Russia has managed to reverse the trend of the past few years with explored natural reserves exceeding their output in 2009, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

"Whereas in the mid-1990s we said we were eating away what we had prospected earlier, now the situation has changed radically," Putin said.

In particular, proven natural gas reserves prospected in 2009 exceeded gas output by 70 billion cubic meters and stood at 650 billion cubic meters, Putin said. "The same results were registered in the uranium, iron ore and other metals sectors," Putin said.

The Russian premier said that small and medium business should play an active role in deposit prospecting and development along with large state-owned companies. He also urged measures to cut companies' costs in this sphere related to administrative barriers.

"As one of the first steps to solve the problem, it is proposed to cancel the fee for obtaining information from the state natural resources fund to make these data more accessible for business and cut expenses for subsoil developers and those who plan to engage in this business," Putin said.

MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti)