MOSCOW, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - Itera, a leading independent Russian natural gas producer, said Tuesday its net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) increased 68.5% year-on-year in the first half of 2007 to 1.61 billion rubles (about $63.5 million).
"Net profit growth is attributable to higher selling prices of natural gas, and correspondingly, to increased earnings from sales, which rose from 12.3 billion rubles (about $481 million), net of value-added tax, in the first six months of 2006 to 15 billion rubles (about $589 million) in the first six months of 2007 while the prime cost of products grew by only 11.6%," the natural gas producer said in a statement.
Itera exports natural gas to the CIS and the Baltic states, and is developing gas production in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region in West Siberia.
