MOSCOW, June 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's largest privately owned oil producer LUKoil said on Wednesday its US GAAP net profit had plunged 71%, year on year, in January-March to $905 million.

LUKoil, which accounts for around 1.3% of global oil reserves and some 2.3% of global oil output, earlier said its profits had been hard-hit by low oil prices in the first months of the year.

The company's revenues from sales in the reporting period declined 41% to $14.75 billion, and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was down 49.8% to $2.41 billion.

"It should be noted that EBITDA decreased at a slower rate than the oil price (which fell by 53.1%) thanks to the company's business optimization and cost reduction," LUKoil said in a statement.

LUKoil's nominal majority shareholder with 63.3% of shares is Russia's ING Bank (Eurasia). U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips has a 20% stake. LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov directly and indirectly controls about 20% of the company's stock.