MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Russia plans to increase annual oil production to 540 mln tons in the medium term, a goal that will require additional investment, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with Rossiya-24 TV channel. He added that the government is currently working on possible incentive measures.
"We plan to reach a level of 540 mln tons and to maintain such figures. To achieve this, it is, of course, very important to continue work aimed at creating the conditions necessary to ensure this level of production," he said.
"We are moving into hard-to-recover reserves, primarily on the Arctic shelf. This requires additional costs and appropriate investment. Therefore, we will continue our efforts, including preparing and creating conditions to boost investment inflows into this sector," Novak added.
He also added that Russia's oil production may increase by 2% in 2026 to reach 525 mln tons. "We have projected growth of approximately 2% in accordance with the socioeconomic development forecast - that's 525 mln tons," he said.
Novak noted that the global oil market is currently balanced. "Today the market is balanced. We see that during periods of low demand, decisions to increase production are not implemented, while as demand rises and the market grows, production is increased accordingly," he said.