OREANDA-NEWS. May 31, 2007. Rosneft is analyzing its newly acquired assets in Tomsk and Samara to see how quickly it can boost production at the sites, which it bought from Yukos at auctions earlier this month.

"We are currently carrying out analysis at the sites, and then we can talk about increasing production and a timeline," spokesman Nikolai Manvelov said.

Rosneft bought Yukos' last two main production units, Tomskneft and Samaraneftegaz, at auctions in May.

The acquisition of the units sealed Rosneft's position as the country's largest oil producer, with a current total output of 2.1 million barrels per day and plans to reach 2.5 million bpd soon.

The two units together produce about 430,000 bpd, well below the 650,000 bpd they were producing before the onslaught on Yukos began in mid-2003. Analysts say the units could reach that level again within six months.

Rosneft CEO Sergei Bogdanchikov said on a visit to Samara on Saturday that he hoped to boost annual production in the region by 2 million tons to 11.5 million tons, a company statement said. The firm would also seek to boost refining output by 2 million tons, he said.

He also confirmed reports that Rosneft would seek to sell off part of a 9.44 percent stake in the company that it bought back from Yukos at the opening auction on March 27.