MOSCOW, November 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's largest independent natural gas producer Novatek [RTS: NVTK] said on Friday its Russian Accounting Standards net profit increased 18% year-on-year to 13 billion rubles ($481 million) in January-September 2008.
The gas producer's revenue increased 42% year-on-year to almost 50 billion rubles ($1.8 billion) in the reporting period.
Gas output went up 9.2% to 22.83 bcm in the first nine months of 2008, against the same period of last year, Russia's second largest natural gas producer said in a preliminary report.
Established in 1994, Novatek's operations include the prospecting, production and refining of gas and liquid hydrocarbons. Its gas fields are located in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous area in West Siberia, which has the world's largest natural gas reserves. The region accounts for over 90% of Russian natural gas output and around 20% of global gas production.