MOSCOW, July 14 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian Energy Ministry forecasts that this year’s oil production will remain at its last year level, according to Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov.

“I think that the oil output will remain at about 518-520 million tons [in 2013]. I hope that there will be no decline in gas production,” he said.

According to earlier reports, Russia produced 518 million tons of oil in 2012, while gas output reached 655 billion cubic metres.