Russ Oil-Gas

MOSCOW, June 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russian energy giant Gazprom will increase its natural gas reserves by 10 trillion cubic meters by 2020, Vlada Rusakova, a board member, said at a conference on Tuesday. "The average increase of [natural gas] reserves will reach 10 trillion cubic meters by 2020," she said. Rusakova said Gazprom expects its natural gas output to be 640 billion cubic meters by 2020, while its gas production could reach 670-680 billion cubic meters through new projects. Investment has been fixed at 700 billion rubles ($29 billion) annually for 2009-2010. The Russian gas monopoly has also forecast an increase in natural gas exports to northeast Asia by 2020, which should be the equivalent of around half of its European supplies. Rusakova added that China was a lucrative market, where demand for natural gas could reach 250 billion cubic meters by 2020. Gazprom is also eyeing Japan for LNG supplies, the official said. The energy giant also plans to increase oil production by 4% annually. Under an oil business development program, Gazprom should raise crude output from 46 million metric tons (338 million bbl) in 2006 to 100 million metric tons (735 million bbl) in 2020, the official said. The company produced 548.6 billion cubic meters of gas in 2007, and expects a 2.3% rise this year.