CORRECTED-Sberbank may up lending to St Petersburg developers

(Gref corrects earlier comments to specify that he was referring only to St Petersburg developers)

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, July 28 (Reuters) - Russia's biggest lender, state-controlled Sberbank (SBER03.MM), is ready to double its loan portfolio to St Petersburg developers if needed, the bank's head German Gref told press conference on Tuesday.

"If the demand grows, we are ready to double our lending (to developers)," Gref said.

He told reporters later that he was referring only to lending to the construction sector in St Petersburg. (Reporting by Denis Pinchuk, writing by Dmitry Sergeyev, editing by Will Waterman)