Itera pulls back to Russian market

MOSCOW, March 26 (UPI) -- Itera, an independent natural gas producer in Russia, said it would ditch some of its foreign projects in favor of domestic business, a spokesman said Thursday.

Itera said it would abandon projects in Africa and Moldova but move on plans to develop its programs in Turkmenistan and Belarus, RIA Novosti reports, citing an unnamed spokesman for the company.

The company had earlier dumped its stakes in Armenia ventures with Gazprom, as well as projects in Canada and India in favor of Russian projects.

"Our position is to concentrate investment on the expansion and development of the gas resources base in Russia and the implementation of energy projects in the Sverdlovsk (Urals) and Nizhny Novgorod (Volga area) regions," the spokesman said.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin suggested the natural resource export market for Russia would decline in favor of domestic consumption and a sagging world economy.

"We will be cutting oil exports through the expansion of domestic consumption," he said earlier this month.