25th Sep 2015 08:26
LONDON (Alliance News) - Urals Energy Public Co Ltd Friday reported a swing to a pretax profit for its first half as it offset a fall in revenue by cutting costs in what it called a "challenging period".
The Russia-focused exploration and production company reported a pretax profit USD225,000 for the half year to end-June, swung from a pretax loss of USD1.2 million, due to lower operating costs and a USD425,000 foreign currency gain, despite revenue after excise taxes and export duties more than halving to USD7.2 million from USD16.6 million.
Urals described a challenging market environment during the half year, with continuing high volatility in the market price of crude oil and in the ruble. The average price of crude oil was USD58 per barrel in the half year, compared to USD109 a year before, and domestic prices for light oil products ranged from USD82 to USD106 per barrel, compared to USD113 to USD137 a year before.
The company was forced to stop production of its oil products at the beginning of the year due to a fire at the Petrosakh refinery, which led to a reduction in processing volumes in January and February. The refinery has since recommenced production.
Shares in Urals were down 2.7% at 2.56 pence Friday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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