Kazakhstan has set the goal of more than doubling its crude oil output to 150 million tons by 2015, Vice Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bolat Akchulakov said on Friday.

Crude production of the central Asian country reached 61.4 million tons in 2005. It should increase to 72 million by 2009, and then leap to 150 million by 2015, the vice minister said.

Meanwhile, Vice Minister of Economy and Budget Planning, Marat Kussaynov, said Kazakhstan's gross domestic product (GDP) was projected to grow by an average of 8.8 percent over the next three years to a 29-percent increase by 2009.

"This will permit us to achieve our strategic goal of doubling our GDP in 2008 as compared to 2000," said the minister, adding that the economy had expanded by 9.4 percent in 2005.

With a population of 15 million, Kazakhstan produces 60 million tons of crude annually and processes about 10 million tons.

The oil-rich country has a proven oil reserve of 10 billion tons, the second biggest behind Russia among the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Under a government program, Kazakhstan expects to be among the top 10 oil exporters in the world by 2012.

Source: Xinhua