LONDON (Alliance News) - Volga Gas PLC Tuesday said it swung to a pretax profit in 2013 as revenues jumped on increased gas prices and operational upgrades.
The oil and gas exploration and production group, which operates in the Volga region of Russia, posted a pretax profit of USD9.1 million in 2013, versus a pretax loss of USD6.3 million in 2012, as revenues increased 22% to USD34.6 million from USD28.3 million.
The company said in January that it expected a revenue to increase to roughly USD34 million as production increased during the year and gas prices achieved by the company during 2013 increased 18% to an average USD2.73 per thousand cubic feet from USD2.32.
The company said its second half production results were boosted by its operating subsidiary, OOO Gaznefteservice gaining regulatory approval for upgrade works on the Dobrinskoye Gas Processing Plant.
Volga Gas said in January that its production for the year was approximately 8.9 million cubic feet per day of gas and 1,400 barrels per day of oil and condensate, a total of approximately 2,922 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a 46% increase on 2012.
The company is continuing to upgrade the Dobrinskoye gas plant to expand capacity to 1 million cubic metres per day during 2014 from its November rate of 500,000 cubic metres per day. Volga gas said it is currently expecting that works on the final stage of the upgrade will be completed during the first half.
In January and February 2014, production averaged 4,563 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up more than 50% on the full-year 2013 average production rate.
Volga Gas shares were up 7.4% to 100.00 pence, putting it in the top five AIM risers in morning trading Tuesday.
By Tom McIvor; tommcivor@alliancenews.com; @TomMcIvor1
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