Russia May Increase Oil Output to 516 Mln Tons in 2012

Russia, the world’s largest crude-producing country, is planning to raise its oil production by 1% year-on-year in 2012 to 516 million metric tons

Russia, the world’s largest crude-producing country, is planning to raise its oil production by 1% year-on-year in 2012 to 516 million metric tons, the Energy Ministry said.

“We are expecting the increase [in oil output] at about 1% or around 5 mln tons in 2012,” Deputy Energy Minister Sergei Kudryashov said on Saturday in an interview with Rossiya-24 television.

Russia produced 511.4 mln tons of crude in 2011, posting a 1.23% increase compared with 2010.

Kudryashov said that investment and production forecasts announced by Russian companies indicated that a 1% increase in oil production this year was an attainable goal.

The Energy Ministry is expecting oil production in Russia to average 510 metric tons annually until at least 2020.