Rosneft expanding ahead of schedule: company president

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2007

MOSCOW (AFP) — Russia's Rosneft oil giant is expanding output ahead of schedule and will soon produce more than 100 million tonnes of oil annually, Russian news agencies quoted company president Sergei Bogdanchikov as saying on Saturday.

Rosneft increased oil output by eight percent and gas output by four percent last year, bringing total oil output for the year to over 80 million tonnes, Bogdanchikov told a shareholders' meeting.

Rosneft has been surging ahead in production after recent acquisitions of assets that were owned by Yukos, formerly Russia's number one oil company before it was dismembered by the authorities in a battle with its now jailed head Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Earlier this month Rosneft's chief rival Lukoil announced that it produced 95...