Putin calls on oil companies to boost output
Russian oil companies have vowed to make up for the fall in oil production, which amounted to 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2008, by the end of the year, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on the development of the country's oil and gas industry according to RBC.
Putin indicated that the rate of oil output growth had gone down from 11 percent in 2003 to slightly over 2 percent in 2007. The trend has continued, as figures turned negative in Q1 2008. The PM reiterated that decisions had been approved to introduce tax relief measures, and that others were still in the works to apply such measures to other oil and gas fields. Experts estimate that these steps will enable companies to retain RUB 130bn - RUB 140bn (approx. USD 5.55bn-6bn) in surplus per year. In response, oil companies have pledged to make up for the decline in output by the year's end, Putin noted.