MOSCOW, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Russia produced record volumes of oil and gas in 2018, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday.
He told Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting that last year Russia's crude oil output rose by 1.6 percent, or 10 million tons from 2017 to 556 million tons, according to a Kremlin transcript of minutes of the meeting.
The increase was attributed to the operation of 54 new oil fields, including several major ones in the Krasnoyarsk region and the Yamalo-Nenets region.
Last year's natural gas output hit a record in 18 years with 725 billion cubic meters, up about 5 percent from 2017, Novak said.
Russia's gas exports rose by 20 billion cubic meters to nearly 225 billion cubic meters last year, with pipeline deliveries up 4.1 percent, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports up 70 percent to nearly 26 bilion cubic meters after new facilities of the Yamal LNG plant were put into operation, he said.
The energy sector accounted for 25 percent of Russia's gross domestic product and nearly 45 percent of federal budget revenues, according to Novak.
