OAO Gazprom Neft (SIBN.RS), the oil arm of Russian gas monopoly OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS), said Tuesday it had approved a 267.5 billion ruble ($11.2 billion) investment program for 2008 to 2010.
OAO Gazprom Neft (SIBN.RS), the oil arm of Russian gas monopoly OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS), said Tuesday it had approved a 267.5 billion ruble ($11.2 billion) investment program for 2008 to 2010.

Gazprom Neft expects capital expenditure for 2008 to rise 36% from last year to RUB88.9 billion, of which RUB67.8 billion will be invested in upstream production.

For the whole period until 2010, the company plans upstream investment to total RUB176.5 billion.

Investment into refining will amount to RUB6.3 billion this year and RUB27.3 billion for the whole period.

"This is an ambitious mid-term investment program that corresponds to the execution of Gazprom Neft's main strategic goals," says Aleksandr Dyukov, chairman of the company's board.

Gazprom Neft, formerly Sibneft, is the country's fifth-largest oil producer, posting daily output of 653,900 barrels last year.

Dyukov said earlier this year that his company aims to increase production to 1.6 million to 1.8 million barrels a day by 2020.

Investment from now until that time will total $70 billion, Dyukov said.

Gazprom Neft's oil and condensate reserves totaled 148 million metric tons at the end of 2007. At the same time, the company had 8 billion cubic meters of C1 and C2 - Russian terms for proven and probable - gas reserves.