Gazprom's gas output to rise to around 416 bcm in 2024

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Alexei Miller, the head of Russia's Gazprom, said on Thursday the group's natural gas production is set to rise this year by 61 billion cubic metres (bcm) to around 416 bcm.

The increase is from an all-time low production in loss-making 2023, when output plummeted by 13% amid a fall in gas exports to Europe, once Gazprom's primary source of revenue, as relations with the West worsened over the conflict in Ukraine.

Gas exports to China are set to rise to 31 bcm this year, Miller said, up from the planned 30 bcm.

The company has been in talks with China over a significant increase in gas sales, including via the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline. However, negotiations have not borne fruit due to a number of issues, mainly prices.

Gazprom has instead turned to the low-cost domestic market, as well as neighbouring ex-Soviet countries, such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The company said on Thursday that gas supplies to domestic consumers have reached a record high of 390 bcm in 2024.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Oksana Kobzeva, Editing by Louise Heavens)