MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russian oil company Slavneft (RTS ticker: SIBN) said Thursday it had produced 5.88 million tons (478,893 bbl/d) of oil in the first quarter of 2006, a 0.7% rise on the same period last year.
The company said the low increase in oil production owed to extremely low temperatures in January-February this year, but the company's projected production figures would be reached by the year's end.
Russian energy giant Gazprom controls over 75% of shares in Sibneft, one of the world's twenty largest oil companies with proven reserves of over 4.5 billion barrels. The gas giant acquired a 72.7% share in the oil company in September 2005 for $13.1 billion.
