MOSCOW, February 25 (RIA Novosti) - In January 2005, Russia's oil production rose by 4.7% as against the same period last year, but the growth rates went down one-half, says the Ministry of Economic Development monitoring report published on Friday.
"The slide in growth rates first registered in mid-2004 was confirmed in January 2005. The growth rates of oil (and gas condensate) production was 4.7% in January 2005 as compared with the same period in 2004 (10.2% in January 2004, 5.6% in December 2004, and 8.9% on the average for 2004)," the review said.
According to the Ministry, the main reason for the slowdown of growth rates in oil production is a decrease in exploration drillings and commissioning of oil wells in 2004. As compared with 2003, exploration drillings decreased by 18.9%.
The natural gas production in January 2005 increased by 1.3% on 2004, which is slightly lower than the average annual growth rate in 2004 (1.9%), the Ministry of Economic Development said.
