| Gaia: | After Russian oil production had fallen to a low of 303 million tonnes per year in 1996–8, production picked up rapidly – some years showing an increase exceeding 10 per cent – until 2004 when it reached 459 million tonnes. Among observers of the sector there had been a debate about Russia’s ability to sustain the output level, sceptics arguing that the impressive growth was caused mainly by forced exploitation of existing fields with the use of new technologies, with Yukos in the forefront, and that this could not continue due to exhaustion of the fields. In fact the rate of growth fell drastically after 2004, growth continued, however, with output reaching 523 million tonnes in 2014, getting close to the record levels of the mid-1980s.
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