London-listed Kazakh oil and gas producer KazMunaiGas Exploration Production (RDGZ.KZ) said Thursday its third-quarter net income rose 56.5% from a year earlier, mainly due to higher crude oil prices.
KazMunaiGas Exploration Production, or KMG EP, said in a statement its third-quarter net profit increased to 71.03 billion tenge ($590.9 million) from KZT45.39 billion, while its net profit more than doubled in the first nine months of this year to KZT218.5 billion from KZT103.5 billion.
KMG EP said the nine-month net income rise was due to the higher prices received for crude, the contribution of Kazgermunai, return on its investment in CCEL and increased financial income.
Artem Konchin, an oil and gas analyst at UniCredit Aton, said that the results were good, topping his forecast mainly due to higher sales of crude oil and a smaller-than-expected impact from export duties.
He said the third-quarter financial results had little impact on the company's share-price decline after they were released.
Oleg Maximov, an analyst at Troika Dialog, said that KMG EP's third-quarter results were "very good," and better than his expectations. He said that the company had very good free cash flow generation.
Both Konchin and Maximov noted that KMG EP had cash equal to its market capitalization.
KMG EP produced 239,000 barrels of oil a day in the first nine months this year, a 15% increase on the year-earlier period.
Third-quarter revenue rose to KZT182.5 billion from KZT128.9 billion, KMG EP said, adding its operating expenses increased to KZT75.4 billion from KZT52.4 billion.
"The achieved results demonstrate the company's effectiveness and confirm its strong financial position which becomes an important advantage at the time of global financial crisis and lower oil prices," Chief Executive Askar Balzhanov said.
KMG EP's capital expenditure in 2008 is expected to increase to KZT45.2 billion, up from KZT40.1 billion last year, the company said.
KMG EP said its capital investments next year would total KZT71 billion, assuming a Brent oil price of $60 a barrel and stable production of 191,600 barrels a day at the core assets of Ozenmunaigas and Embamunaigas.
KMG EP was down 4.1% at $9.7 per global depository receipt on the London Stock Exchange at 1055 GMT.