Oil companies on Russia's Pacific island of Sakhalin in the first six months of this year extracted 12.740 billion cubic meters of gas, or 61% more than in the same drilling period last year, an official from the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry said on Monday.
"The increased production of hydrocarbons, compared to the same time last year, is primarily due to the commissioning of new wells on the Sakhalin-2 project," the official told RIA Novosti.
She said that the Sakhalin-2 project, run by Russia's Pacific oil company Sakhalin Energy, was the area's production leader.
Sakhalin oil companies have set a production goal of 23.758 cubic gas meters for 2010.