Kazakhstan plans to increase its output of natural gas by more than 50 percent by 2010, and will try to realize an annual production of 45 billion cubic meters, said Kazakh energy minister on Monday.

The country produced 26.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2006, more than double the figure in 1991, Kazakh Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov told lawmakers.

Taking into consideration of the newly exploited natural gas fields on the Caspian continental shelf, Kazakhstan's proven natural gas reserves are estimated at 3,300 billion cubic meters, he said.

In terms of gas production, Kazakhstan ranks fifteenth in the world.