The coming week's discussions will address the company's 2006 budget, investment, and cost-cutting programs, Gazprom said.
At the meeting Wednesday, the board decided to follow a policy of granting independent producers, which have historically struggled to find an outlet for the gas they produce alongside their oil output, access to its transportation system.
"The board of directors deemed it necessary to continue attracting the gas resources of independent producers," the company said in a statement.
"Since 2000, gas production has been developing dynamically in Russia, and both Gazprom and independent businesses have been demonstrating stable output growth. The increasing level of production is attributable to growing demand for natural gas on the domestic and foreign markets," the statement said.
In 2004, the production of independent gas companies totaled 88.4 billion cubic meters, or 14% of the country's total output.
Under Russia's energy strategy, independent gas producers are expected to produce up to 114 billion cu m before 2010, and up to 150 billion cu m by 2020.
The number of independent companies granted access to Gazprom's gas transportation system increased from six in 1998 to 38 in 2005, while Russian natural gas transportation volumes rose from 25.2 to 65.6 billion cu m meters.
Gazprom purchased 2 billion cu m of gas from independent producers in 2004, and 8.1 billion cu m in 2005. The company is expected to buy 12.1 billion cu m of gas from such companies in 2006.
