LUKoil's average daily oil production was 1.87 million barrels per day in 2006 Q1, 4.5% up from a year earlier. In January-March, the company produced 22.98 million metric tons of oil (461,488 bbl/d), an increase of 4.5% on last year's figure.
Oil output under international projects went up 30.7% after LUKoil acquired Nelson Resources Limited, a Canadian oil exploration and production company operating in the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan.
Russia's ING Bank (Eurasia) is LUKoil's majority shareholder (63.3%) and U.S. energy giant ConocoPhillips has a 16.8% stake in the crude producer.
The average production rate of oil wells in Russia during the reporting period rose to 11.16 metric tons per day, an increase of 1.8% year-on-year.
LUKoil produced 3.67 billion cu m of gas in the first quarter, up almost 50% on last year's figure. Natural gas production expanded almost 300% to 2.37 billion cu m.
"The rapid growth in natural gas production is attributable to the commissioning of the Far Eastern Nakhodka gas field where the company produced 1.8 billion cu m of gas in the first quarter," LUKoil said.
LUKoil expanded refining volumes 13.6% year-on-year to 12.06 million metric tons.
In 2005, LUKoil expanded oil production 4.5% on 2004 to 90.06 million metric tons (1.8 million barrels per day) while gas output grew 16.9% to 7.57 billion cu m.
