Russia's state gas firm OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) has increased its natural gas production forecast for 2008 by 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas to 563 billion cubic meters, or 2.6% more than last year, the company's Chief Executive Alexei Miller said Friday.
The increase comes as Gazprom last year began operating big deposits at the Kharvutinskoye and Yuzhno-Russkoye fields.
"In 2007, Gazprom commissioned several large fields, which allows us to secure the necessary level of production a decade ahead," Miller said.
After 2010, Gazprom plans to open new strategic regions on the Yamal Peninsula, the Barents Sea shelf, in East Siberia and in the Far East, Miller added.
Gazprom plans production to reach 570 billion cubic meters in 2010, 610 billion-615 billion cubic meters in 2015 and 650 billion-670 billion cubic meters in 2020.