TNK-BP Increased Oil Reserves

Russian-British TNK-BP said Wednesday that it established 1.37 barrels of new reserves for every barrel of oil it produced last year.

As a result, TNK-BP's total proven liquid reserves, measured by the standards of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, totaled 8.23 billion barrels at the end of 2005.

This takes into account the disposal of some of its upstream assets in the course of last year.

TNK-BP said the results don't include the reserves of its unit Slavneft, nor do the figures include any natural gas reserves.

TNK-BP has licenses to develop substantial natural gas deposits in Russia, notably the giant Kovykta field in eastern Siberia. However, regulatory and political issues have hindered their development.