TN PETRÓLEO

Russian gas monopoly OAO Gazprom (GSPBEX.RS) has raised the top end of its forecast range for gas output by 2020 by 14%, the news agency Interfax reported Thursday, citing deputy chief executive Alexander Ananenkov.

It said the company now thinks output by 2020 may total as much as 670 billion cubic meters a year.

Interfax cited Ananenkov as saying that the company has also raised its forecasts for the nearer term, saying that production may hit 570 billion cubic meters by 2010, instead of the 560 billion previously forecast.

That includes 180 billion cubic meters equivalent of liquefied natural gas, the news agency Prime-Tass reported him as saying.

It added that Ananenkov said Gazprom`s total reserves should total 14 trillion cubic meters by 2010.

Gazprom intends to produce 557 billion cubic meters of gas this year, fractionally less than it originally planned due to an exceptionally mild winter that depressed demand both in Russia and its main export markets in central and western Europe.