Gazprom board clears record investments for 2009

MOSCOW, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Russia's government on Tuesday cleared Gazprom's (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) plans to invest a record $32.5 billion in 2009 despite calls from some officials to cap the appetite of the gas behemoth due to the economic downturn.

The gas export monopoly said its state-run board had approved 2009 investments at 920.44 billion rouble ($32.49 billion), up by 12 percent from the 821.66 billion roubles planned for this year.

The figure includes 699.88 billion for capital spending, a 32 percent increase from this year's plan of 531.2 billion.

The remaining 220.56 billion would be spent on long-term financial investments, down from 290.46 billion this year.

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said last week the government might want Gazprom to cut its investment plan to 720 billion roubles.

Gazprom will see a steep decline in export revenues from the middle of 2009 as gas prices are pegged to oil prices with a lag of up to nine months.

The state may also review an aggressive schedule of domestic gas price increases next year to support an economy suffering from the global financial crisis.

Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said last month his firm may ask for state help to fund its investment programme and pledged to keep borrowing unchanged from this year at 90 billion roubles.

Gazprom, which supplies a quarter of Europe's gas consumption, needs to invest heavily to bring on stream its top projects, such as the Bovanenkovo field on the Arctic Yamal peninsula or the Shtokman deposit in the Barents Sea. (Reporting by Tanya Mosolova; Editing by Erica Billingham)