Gazprom forecasts its gas output

Gazprom's gas production will amount to 600bn cubic meters annually by 2005and to 650bn cubic meters of gas by 2010, Bogdan Budzulyak, deputy chairmanof the gas giant, declared at an enlarged session at Gazprom's officedevoted to the use of natural and liquid gas as an engine fuel. Accordingto him, this volume of production may be reached due to the exploration ofnew gas fields of the Yamal peninsula and the Barents Sea shelf. Budzulyaksaid that the current volume of the explored gas reserves was 47 trillioncubic meters, which was 32 percent of the world gas reserves.Speaking about the problem of the use of natural gas as an engine fuel, hepointed out that the process of transferring to this kind of fuel had beencaused by an increasing demand for oil products amid the growing number ofautomobiles and dropping volume of oil production. The second cause isRussia's decreased dependence on oil products, especially in thetransportation sector. Moreover, the use of natural gas as an engine fuelwill decrease the negative influence on the environment. He noted that insome eight or ten years a shortage of oil products would be felt in thecountry. .

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