MOSCOW, August 1 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom, said Wednesday its net profit in the first half of 2007 increased 18.7% year-on-year to 35.6 billion rubles ($1.4 billion).
The company said the increase was caused by a growth in oil and petrochemicals sales and higher oil exports.
Gazprom Neft also said its assets increased 26.45% in the second quarter of 2007 to 301 billion rubles ($11.8 billion) following an increase in short-term investment in deposits and a lower amount of cash.
Gazprom Neft is one of Russia's largest oil companies handling downstream and upstream operations. It was known as Sibneft before April 2007.
