Sibneft Announces Plans

Russia's No. 5 oil firm Sibneft, which is in the process of divorce from bigger partner Yukos, said this week it planned to maintain healthy oil output growth at 20 percent this year.

Sibneft said it produced 31.45 million tons (632,000 barrels per day) of crude in 2003, up 19.4 percent year-on-year. In 2003, Sibneft's exports reached 12.46 million tons or 39.6 percent of total output, compared to 10.75 million in 2002. It also boosted exports of refined products by 50 percent to 5.40 million tons from 3.59 million in 2002.