MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Rosneft ramped up natural gas production by 31.8% to 43.7 bln cubic meters and topped the list of independent producers, the Russian oil and gas major reported.

"Gas production by the company in the first half of 2023 surged by 31.8% against the first six months of 2022 and reached 1.5 mln barrels of oil equivalent daily (43.7 bln cubic meters)," Rosneft said.

The increase of the indicator was driven by production scaled up in operating projects and by the launch of new gas project in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District in 2022.

"The company demonstrated high growth dynamics of its operating indicators in the first half of 2023 amid successful implementation of current projects and launch of new ones. In particular, Rosneft reached the first place among independent gas producers, having boosted production by almost a third," Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said.

Rosneft lowered gas production by 8.7% quarter on quarter in the second quarter of this year to 1.4 mln barrels of oil equivalent per day (21 bln cubic meters), largely due to the restriction of oil production and workovers.