Oil output in Russia may rise 2% on the year in 2006 according to “optimistic forecast,” Sergei Oganesyan, director of the country’s Federal Energy Agency, said Monday.

According to “pessimistic forecast,” oil output in Russia may be almost flat on the year at 475 million tonnes in 2006, Oganesyan said.

Russia’s oil output is expected to increase 2.5% on the year in 2005, he said. The Federal State Statistics Service said in February that oil output in Russia was at 458.7 million tonnes in 2004. Oganesyan said that he expects Russia’s natural gas output to rise between 1% to 1.5% on the year in 2006.

http://www.prime-tass.com/news/show.asp?topicid=55&id=386564

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051031/41943600.html