MOSCOW, November 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russian oil may be bought by the U.S. to enlarge its strategic reserves, the Russian deputy economic development and trade minister said Monday.
"Possible supplies to the U.S. strategic reserves is another interesting trend [in the countries' cooperation]," Andrei Sharonov said at a session of the Russian-U.S. Business Cooperation Council.
He said the United States intended to enlarge its strategic reserves to 1 billion metric tons.
Sharonov also said Russia and the U.S. were interested in practical fuel and energy cooperation projects, including on the Barents Sea and Sakhalin shelf.
He said the two countries could cooperate in the traditional regions in West and East Siberia as well as in the field of Russian LNG exports.
Russia needs continual investment in modernizing production for at least five years "to start increasing physical volumes of oil and natural gas production," the minister said.
In 2005 and the next few years, annual growth of oil exports from Russia will not exceed 3%, compared to 12-14% a few years ago, he said.
