Production of natural and accompanying gas in Russia in January-October 2015 decreased compared with the same period of last year by 2.4% to 509.9 billion cubic meters due to a decline in production of the Gazprom Group of companies by 7.7% to 332.1 billion cubic meters of gas
according to the monthly monitoring report of the Russian Economic Development Ministry published on Friday. Independent producers and oil companies continue the trend to increase gas production volumes, the document was cited by Bloomberg. The ministry also noted that gas consumption in the domestic market in January-October 2015 decreased year-on-year by 4.7% to 349.6 billion cubic meters, mainly due to the reduction of gas supplies to power plants and boiler-houses of the Russian Unified Energy System. Gas exports in January-October almost reached the level of 2014 (99.6%) and amounted to 146.4 billion cubic meters, due to the sharp increase in exports to non-CIS countries. The share of exports in January-October 2015 in the total gas production increased and amounted to 28.7%. In foreign countries, gas exports increased by 6.7% to 114 billion cubic meters.