The net profit of Russia’s biggest non-state gas producer Novatek increased by approximately 22 percent to 45.9 billion rubles ($700 million) in the third quarter of 2018, compared to 37.73 billion rubles in the same period last year, the company said Wednesday.
The increase was largely due to the production launches of the first and the second LNG trains at the Yamal LNG terminal at the end of 2017 and in July 2018, Novatek explained.
Increased gas and oil prices helped the company achieve this marked profit upturn, it added.
Yamal LNG is a project launched by Novatek, France’s Total and Chinese partners in the Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic Circle comprising the LNG gas plant, gas field and transport infrastructure.
Novatek said for the third quarter of 2018 and the first nine months of the year, the volume of natural gas sales totaled 15.6 billion cubic meters and 51.0 billion cubic meters, representing increases of 12.2 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively, compared to the corresponding periods of 2017.
'The increases were primarily due to sales of LNG purchased from our joint venture Yamal LNG to international markets,' the company explained.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr