Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 21 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
In the first nine months of 2012 Kazakh National Oil and Gas Company KazMunaiGas Exploration Production increased net profit by 5 percent to 173 billion tenge ($1.163 billion) compared to the same period of 2011, the company reported on Wednesday.
"Increase in company's net profit is mainly due to higher export volumes and higher prices for domestic supply, partially offset by higher employee costs and income tax expenses," KMG EP said.
Company's revenues in the reporting period increased by 11 percent to 605 billion tenge ($4.067 billion).
"This resulted from the 6 percent increase in export volumes and the 36 percent increase in domestic selling prices, compared to the same period of 2011," the company said.
In the first nine months of 2012 KMG EP produced 9.108 million tones of crude oil (246,000 barrels of oil per day), including the company's shares in Kazgermunai (KGM), CCEL and PetroKazakhstan Inc. (PKI) which are 1 percent less than in the same period of 2011.
In the first nine months of 2012 KMG EP's production expenses increased by 18 percent to 104 billion tenge ($ 698 million).
"A significant part of the production costs increase is due to higher expenses on employee costs and the decrease in crude oil balance, which were partially offset by reduction in repairs and maintenance expenses due to reduction of the number of repaired wells and lower repair costs per well," the company said.
Purchases of property, plant equipment and intangible assets (as per Cash Flow Statement) increased by 13 percent in the reporting period to 76 billion tenge ($513 million).
KMG EP is among the top three Kazakh oil and gas producers. The overall production in 2011 was 12.3 million tons (an average of 250 kbopd) of crude oil, including the company's share in Kazgermunai, CCEL and PetroKazakhstan Inc. The total volume of proved and probable reserves, as of the end of 2011 was 226 million tons (1.7 billion barrels), including shares in the associates of about 2.1 billion barrels.
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