Russ Oil-Gas

25 July 2007 - Upstream OnLine - Russian gas giant Gazprom's oil arm, Gazprom Neft, will invest 64.4 billion roubles ($2.54 billion) this year in a bid to stem a decline in oil output, mostly via bidding for new licences, it said today. "Thus Gazprom Neft will break the tendency of declining production volumes in 2007 and will go on to gradual growth in output," the company said in a statement. Gazprom Neft, previously called Sibneft, has been fighting declining production since it was bought by Gazprom from billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2005. The company said it expects output to rise to 33 million tonnes (662,700 barrels per day) this year from 32.7 million tonnes (656,700 bpd) in 2006. It said it planned to increase production to 35 million tonnes (702,900 bpd) by 2010.