OREANDA-NEWS. September 8, 2010. Russian-British oil joint venture TNK-BP plans to increase investment in exploration and production by 50 percent to USD 5 billion in 2013, Vice President Sergei Brezitsky said on Monday.

"Five billion dollars is a serious sum," Brezitsky told Rossiya 24 TV channel in an interview.

The company will invest USD 3.3 billion this year, with the main projects being oil deposits in the Irkutsk region in Siberia, in the Orenburg region in the Urals, and on the Yamal peninsula in Russia's north.

TNK-BP plans to invest USD 800 million in development of the Yamal deposits in 2011, increasing to USD 1.5-1.8 billion in 2013. The amount of investment in Yamal is dependent on construction of the Purpe-Zapolyarnoe oil pipeline, Brezitsky said.

TNK-BP Acting Director Maxim Barsky said that the firm's 10-year development strategy envisages production growing by two percent before the implementation of the Yamal projects and by four percent after it. The company wants to become the largest integrated oil and gas company in Russia, and plans to raise oil production by four percent annually from 2014-2015.