"The increase in net income was due to favorable market conditions, high refinery margins and increases in refinery throughputs, as well as due to effective cost control," the company said in a news release.
Growth of net income was held back by appreciation of the ruble against the dollar, increase in transportation tariffs and growth of the tax burden.
Revenue from sales increased 59% to $56.89 billion, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, was $11.08 billion, which is 74.5% more than in January-June 2007, the company said.
LUKoil sold 65.3 million tons of crude oil and petroleum products in the first half of 2008, representing no change year-on-year.
The company decreased oil sales and considerably increased sales of petroleum products. Retail sales of petroleum products increased by 17.2% year-on-year, to 6.7 million tons.
LUKoil, which accounts for about 1.3% of global oil reserves and 2.3% of world crude output, said last month its net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards grew 42.5%, year-on-year, in January-June to 51.4 billion rubles ($2.2 billion).
