Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom Neft, the Siberian oil company once owned by billionaire Roman Abramovich, plans to double crude production by the end of next decade through developing Arctic fields and investing $70 billion.

The oil unit of natural-gas producer OAO Gazprom wants to pump as much as 90 million metric tons by 2020, Chief Executive Officer Alexander Dyukov said in an interview published in the Moscow-based Kommersant newspaper today. His spokeswoman, Natalya Vyalkina, confirmed his comments to Bloomberg News.

Gazprom Neft expects to receive the license to develop the Prirazlomnoye deposit in the Arctic by 2010 and plans to start work at the giant offshore field five years later, Dyukov said. Russian oil companies are looking to offshore projects to compensate for falling output at mature western Siberian fields.

Extraction taxes in Russia are holding back development of fields in remote Arctic regions, and Gazprom Neft intends to team up with other producers to persuade the government to ease them, Dyukov said. ``If this doesn't happen, it will be hard to ensure continued production growth in Russia,'' he said.

Gazprom Neft produced 43 million tons of crude last year, including its share of OAO Slavneft, according to CDU TEK, the Energy Ministry's statistics center. OAO Lukoil, Russia's largest independent oil producer, pumped 91 million tons last year.

Refining Boost

Gazprom Neft also plans to raise oil-processing capacity in the next 12 years to two-thirds of crude production by purchasing refineries at home and abroad, Dyukov said. The company is ``interested'' in more European assets after agreeing in January to acquire 51 percent of Serbia's Naftna Industrija Srbije, known as NIS, he said.

A final draft of the company's strategy will be completed this month for review by the board, Dyukov said, without specifying how the $70 billion will be raised or invested.

Gazprom Neft made its first foray into Europe when it agreed to acquire the NIS stake. The Russian producer now may follow its state-run parent company by expanding in the European Union, though Dyukov said further acquisitions are unlikely to happen soon.

No talks about assets swaps are taking place with Gazprom partners Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Eni SpA, Dyukov said. Eni, which holds 20 percent of Gazprom Neft, won't get any preferential treatment, while his company doesn't expect any favors from the Italian producer, Dyukov said.

Gazprom Neft is also not holding talks to buy a stake in BP Plc's Russian unit, TNK-BP, Dyukov said, though there are ``significant synergies'' with the companies' joint holding Slavneft.

Gazprom bought Abramovich's OAO Sibneft, as Gazprom Neft was previously known, after failing to acquire state-run oil company OAO Rosneft in 2005.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lucian Kim in Moscow at lkim3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 4, 2008 06:24 EST