07-10-08 Russia's gas output is expected to reach 700 bn cm next year, up 3.2 % from an expected 678 bn cm this year, the Russian energy ministry said in a draft document. Last year Russia produced a total of 654 bn cm.
According to the ministry's draft General Scheme for Gas Industry Development to 2030, in 2010 Russian gas output is forecast to reach 717 bn cm. The figure is a little higher than the recent outlook by the economic development ministry, which targeted output of 715 bn cm in 2010.

Over the next two years, some 85 % of total output will continue to come from the traditional gas provinces in West Siberia. Production from East Siberia and the Russian Far East is expected to account for 16.7 bn cm in 2009 and 22.7 bn cm in 2010, up from 11.8 bn cm in 2007.
Russia is expected to add 783 bn cm of gas reserves in 2008, 686 bn cm in 2009 and 841 bn cm in 2010, the energy ministry's document said. Last year 684 bn cm of new reserves were added.

New reserves will mainly come from the traditional gas provinces in West Siberia and the European part of Russia, but from 2009 there will be a substantial addition from offshore fields. Domestic gas demand is expected at 440.4 bn cm in 2008, 451.2 bn cm in 2009 and 464.8 bn cm in 2010, up from 417.9 bn cm in 2007, with power plants remaining the main consumers.
The share of gas in Russia's total energy demand will remain at about 50-53 % in the 2008-2010 period, although in following decades this is expected to start declining to 45-47 %, according to the document.