Russian may lift crude oil production by 0.8% to between 492 million metric tons and 493 million tons, the Interfax news agency reported Friday citing the country's Deputy Energy Minister Sergey Kudryashov.
Russian oil producers have against expectations managed to increased oil output in the first nine months of the year. Production fell in 2008 for the first time in a decade.
This year's increase comes due to the launch of projects, which were started five or six years ago, including OAO Rosneft's (ROSN.RS) Vankor field, OAO Surgutneftegaz' (SNGS.RS) Talakan field and TNK-BP Ltd.'s Uvat field, Kudryashov said.