ROSN.L Regulatory News (ROSN)

31 Jul 2006 11:23

OJSC OC Rosneft31 July 2006 Rosneft produces 38.5 million tonnes of oil in 1H 2006 Rosneft has summarized its production results for the first half of 2006.Subsidiaries of Rosneft produced 38.46 million tonnes of oil during the firstsix months of 2006 (including the production by consolidated subsidiaries, aswell as the production of 50% of OOO Polar Lights Company and 20% share inSakhalin-1 project), an increase of 8.2% over the 35.54 million tonnes producedduring the same period in 2005. The greatest production increases took place at Yuganskneftegaz, which produced26.86 million tonnes (24.76 million tonnes in 1H 2005); Severnaya Neft, whichproduced 2.75 million tonnes (2.22 million tonnes in 1H 2005);Sakhalinmorneftegaz, which produced 976,600 tonnes (897,600 tonnes in 1H 2005)and Stavropolneftegaz, which produced 546,300 tonnes (447,600 tonnes in 1H2005). Natural gas production during the first half of 2006 stood at 6.7 billion cubicmeters, an increase of 9.5% over the 6.1 billion cubic meters produced duringthe first six months of 2005. In the first half of 2006, the Company drilled (non including the shares inPolar Lights Company and Sakhalin-1 project) 661,600 meters in exploration anddevelopment wells, an increase of 30.6% over the 506,700 meters drilled duringthe same period in 2005. This figure includes 630,800 meters of explorationdrilling. In total, the Company commissioned 118 oil producing wells with anaverage well flow of 98.4 tonnes per day, as well as 51 injection well. As of July 2006, approximately 7,000 tonnes of pipes had been put in storage atthe Vankor oilfield for the construction of a pipeline to Pur-pe in theYamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, which is expected to be connected to theTransneft system. In the first six months of 2006, 987,000 tonnes of oil were produced at theSakhalin-1 project, in which Rosneft has a 20% interest. Natural gas productionat Sakhalin-1 stood at 313.1 million cubic meters. On June 28, 2006 a second well was successfully tested at the Chumakovskoyefield (Krasnodarneftegaz), which was discovered in 2005. In the first half of 2006, Rosneft refined 11.8 million tonnes an increase of16.3% over the 10.2 million tonnes refined during the same period last year.Rosneft refined 5.3 million tonnes of crude oil at its own refineries (over 5.2million tonnes for the same period in 2005). At Tuapsinskiy Refinery, 2 milliontonnes of oil were refined (unchanged from the same period in 2005), and 3.3million tonnes were refined at the Komsomolskiy Refinery (up from 3.2 milliontonnes during the same period in 2005). Rosneft's marketing divisions sold 3 million tonnes of oil products during thefirst six months of 2006, an increase of 17% over the 2.6 million tonnes soldduring the same period in 2005. Retail sales stood at 538,000 tonnes of oilproducts, an increase of 19.6% over the 450,000 tonnes sold during the sameperiod last year. As of July 1, 2006, the number of Rosneft service stationsstood at 658, with an additional 85 services stations operating under franchiseagreements. In the first six months of 2006, 817 tonnes of oil products weresold per service station, an increase of 12.5% over the 727 tonnes sold perservice station during the same period in 2005. Rosneft Information Service n_manvelov@rosneft.ru tel: +7 495 221-31-07; fax: +7 495 411-54-21; July 31, 2006 Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or otherforward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financialperformance of the Company. You can identify forward looking statements by termssuch as "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "will,""could," "may" or "might" the negative of such terms or other similarexpressions. The Company wishes to caution you that these statements are onlypredictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. The Companydoes not intend to update these statements to reflect events and circumstancesoccurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipatedevents. Many factors could cause the actual results to differ materially fromthose contained in projections or forward-looking statements of the Company,including, among others, general economic conditions, the competitiveenvironment, risks associated with operating in Russia, market change in the oiland gas industry, as well as many other risks specifically related to theCompany and its operations. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange