MOSCOW, Aug 24 (AFP) - Chechnya announced plans Tuesday to boost its oil production by 25 percent over the coming year, urging the Russian government to keep proceeds inside the republic as it struggles to repair damage from a five year war.
Chechen Oil Deputy Minister Lom-Ali Dimayev said the energy-rich republic, which is expected to produce two million tonnes of oil in 2004, has launched talks with the Russian government to keep revenues at home rather then sending them to Moscow.
"The oil ministry is preparing proposals that will be sent to Prime Minister Mikhhail Fradkov," he said Tuesday.
Chechnya's oil, which generates annual revenues estimated at between 370 and 500 million dollars a year, is currently produced by Grozneftegaz, a subsidiary of Russia's state-owned company Rosneft.
Some 1.5 million tons of oil were extracted in 2003 in Chechnya. In Soviet times, the Caucasian republic produced around four million tonnes of oil a year.