Gazprom has increased gas production since the start of the year by 18.8 percent to 248.8 billion cubic meters, in comparison to the same period of the past year, the company said Monday. “From January 1 to July 15, 2017, the Gazprom group produced 248.8 billion cubic meters of gas, 39.3 billion cubic meters or 18.8 percent more than the same period last year,” Gazprom said, according to Sputnik.

Exports to non-CIS countries have grown by 12.3 percent to 102.9 bcm, according to Gazprom. Earlier in June, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee Alexey Miller said the company will produce 450 billion cubic meters of natural gas this year.

Potential new U.S. sanctions against Moscow may delay some of Gazprom’s projects, including Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream gas pipelines, the Russian gas monopoly said, according to Reuters. “The risk of the United States imposing sanctions… may result in delays, or otherwise impair or prevent the completion of the projects by the group,” Gazprom said in a prospectus for an upcoming Eurobond issue.

“The group’s export pipeline projects (including Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream) and deepwater, Arctic offshore or shale projects that have the potential to produce oil in the Russian Federation or elsewhere in the world may face difficulties”, it added.

US sanctions imposed against Russia over its annexation of Crimea are to remain, President Donald Trump said last week, quoted by the BBC. Mr Trump tweeted that it would be premature to consider any relaxation “until the Ukrainian and Syrian problems are solved”.