MOSCOW, May 8 (RIA Novosti) - Itera, Russia's largest independent natural gas producer, said Tuesday its net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) increased 78.5%, year-on-year, in the first quarter of 2007 to 951.21 million rubles (about $36.9 million).
"The net profit growth is attributable to higher selling prices of natural gas and, correspondingly, to increased earnings from sales, which rose from 7.09 billion rubles (about $275 million) in the first quarter of 2006 to 8.16 billion rubles (about $316.7 million) in the first quarter of 2007 while the prime cost of products grew only 4%," the natural gas producer said in a statement.
Itera exports natural gas to the CIS and the Baltic states, and is developing gas production in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region in West Siberia.
