Russian state-controlled oil producer Gazprom Neft has reported a 200-fold jump in net profits for the first half of this year due to improved market fundamentals and a slight increase in production.
According to a company’s latest financial report, revenues increased by 46% to almost 1.33 trillion rubles (US$17.7 billion) between January and June this year against the same period of 2020.
However, it was the company's bottom line that underscored its full recovery from the Covid-19 related troubles of the past year.
Gazprom Neft said its net profit in the first six months of 2021 topped 217 billion rubles versus 8 billion rubles one year earlier.
The company’s operating expenses also increased, although not at the same pace as its revenues, rising by 24% to 1.1 billion rubles.
Payments of direct oil and gas production and export taxes to government rose by 31% to 396 billion rubles, as the company continued to operate some fields under a reduced tax regime unlike, Surgutneftegaz, its neighbour in West Siberia, that reported its results earlier.
Gazprom Neft’s oil and condensate production remained almost unchanged at 777,000 barrels per day, while gas output was up 3% to more than 12 billion cubic metres.
The company said its production curve was boosted by commissioning of the Tazovskoye greenfield in West Siberia that has estimated recoverable reserves of 3 billion barrels of oil and 225 Bcm of gas.
Gazprom Neft expects Tazovskoye's to reach a plateau output of more than 34,000 bpd and 8 Bcm of gas per year.
The second quarter improvement in market fundamentals positively affected the company’s long-term debt which fell 10% to 663 billion rubles at 30 June against the start of the year.
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