MOSCOW: Russia's largest private oil company Lukoil said Monday that its net profit rose by 75 percent in the first quarter of the year on an annual comparison due to exceptional exchange rate impacts.
The 109.1 billion rubles (1.5 billion euros, $1.75 billion) was down nearly 10 percent in January through March compared with the end of last year, however, due to writing down the value of equipment.
Sales rose nearly 14 percent year-on-year to 1.63 trillion rubles, mainly due to higher oil prices.
Crude prices tumbled to under $30 per barrel at the beginning of 2016 before OPEC, Russia and a handful of other producers agreed to restrain production, leading to a rebound that saw prices recently hit $80 before pulling back.
Operating profit as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose by 5.7 percent year-on-year, with a stronger ruble partially offsetting the gains due to higher prices.
Last year, Lukoil, Russia's second-largest oil company after state-controlled Rosneft, earned a record operating profit due primarily to the rebound in global crude prices.
Lukoil's oil production in Russia, which is constrained by the production pact between Russia and the OPEC cartel, dipped on both a quarterly and annual basis to come in at 158.7 million barrels.
Output at its West Qurna-2 field in Iraq rose to 3.1 million barrels, up from 2.7 million barrels at the end of last year.
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