RusEnergy

05 February 2008 - Upstream OnLine - The overseas exploration arm of Russian oil giant Lukoil said total production from its international oil and gas fields had grown by 10.8% last year compared with 2006. It said oil and gas output from all its foreign fields excluding the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan had hit 38.7 million barrels in 2007, or 5.3% of the company total oil production. Lukoil said gas production had surpassed 2.5 billion cubic metres, comprising 15.4% of the company’s total gas output. It said earnings before income tax, debt and amortisation had passed $1 billion for the first time. Much of the production came as Lukoil Overseas brought on line new production in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. The company also made discovering in Colombia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt and bought into exploration assets in Cote d’ivoire and Ghana.