Tatneft in training for higher output

By Upstream staff

Russia's Tatneft plans to raise output by up to 1% at its main fields in 2007.

Company boss Shafagat Takhautdinov told Reuters Tatneft's production has remained flat at around 500,000 barrels per day over the last five years and is not expected to rise sharply in the years to come.

But he added: "The growth will be small - up to 1%. But that is just on the territory of Tatarstan."

Most of the company's fields in the Volga region of Tatarstan are heavily depleted and it will have to explore and develop fields in other regions, such as west Siberia, to compensate for falling output.