LUKoil's profits fall 12% in 2002

LUKoil's post-tax profits in 2002 fell by 12.6% in comparison to the previous year and totaled USD 1.843 billion. The company's press office told Rosbalt that the figures are contained in its annual report, which was published today. The profits are reported according to US GAAP accounting standards. LUKoil's income in 2002 was USD 15.334, which was an increase of 13.9% over the previous year. Income rose due to changes in the company's range of products and an increase in sales of oil products.

LUKoil was registered in 1993. The company's share capital is worth 21,264,081 roubles (USD 695,000) and is divided into 850,563,255 ordinary shares. LUKoil's main spheres of activity are oil and gas exploration and extraction, and the production and sale of oil products. In 2002, LUKoil increased oil extraction by 1.9% to 79.8 million tonnes, but its gas production fell by 1.9% to 5.1 billion cubic metres. The company refined 41.5 million tonnes of oil last year (38 million tonnes in 2001), of which 33.9 million tonnes were refined at Russian plants and 7.7 million tonnes at foreign plants. Last year LUKoil refined 2.1 billion cubic metres of gas and 0.3 million tonnes of hydrocarbons.

LUKoil intends to increase oil extraction to 80 million tonnes and gas production to 5.7 billion cubic metres this year. The company plans to refine 44.5 million tonnes of oil. In addition, it plans to sell at least 60 million tonnes of oil products at home and abroad. LUKoil's investment programme for 2003 is worth about USD 2.4 billion, which is 12.4% higher that its target for 2002.

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