Rosneft oil company’s board of directors has decided to open its branch in the Chechen Republic to ensure the construction and operation of the refinery, RIA Novosti reports.

Earlier reports said, citing the presidential administration in Chechnya that in 2011 Rosneft will start construction of a 1m-ton-capacity refinery in the republic, to be launched in 2013. The plant is reported to produce also 12.000 tons of gas a year.

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has said earlier that the republic could increase oil production to 2 million tons a year. Currently, oil production is at 1.5 million tons a year, while over a thousand oil wells from the existing 1.300 are temporarily shut-in.