12.06.2008
Lukoil vice president Azat Shamsuarov said his company plans to invest 76 billion roubles to stabilise crude production at its west Siberian fields, Interfax reported.
Russia's second-largest oil producer wants to maintain production at 60 million tonnes of standard fuel per year during the next few years at these fields.
'No drop in production is expected, stabilization will be seen in a few years,' Shamsuarov said.
Lukoil plans to deploy cutting-edge technology in order to keep extraction levels at older fields constant, and it could also develop new fields there, he added.
Shamsuarov also said that production could increase if the government introduces tax breaks for the extraction of subsurface resources.
Earlier this month, Lukoil said first-quarter crude production declined 3.0 percent to 23.6 million tonnes from 24.432 million due to less output at the company's aging west Siberian fields.
Source: AFX News
