Azernews.Az

Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGas Exploration Production increased net profit by 5 percent to 173 billion tenge ($1.163 billion) in the first nine months of 2012 compared to the same period of 2011, the company reported on Wednesday.

"Increase in company's net profit is mainly due to higher export volumes and higher prices for domestic supply, partially offset by higher employee costs and income tax expenses," KazMunaiGas EP, the arm of Kazakh state oil and gas company KazMunaiGas, said.

Company's revenues in the reporting period increased by 11 percent to 605 billion tenge ($4.067 billion).

"This resulted from the 6 percent increase in export volumes and the 36 percent increase in domestic selling prices, compared to the same period of 2011," the company said.

In the first nine months of 2012, KMG EP produced 9.108 million tones of crude oil (246,000 barrels of oil per day), including the company's shares in Kazgermunai (KGM), CCEL and PetroKazakhstan Inc. (PKI), which are 1 percent less than in the same period of 2011.

In January-September, KMG EP's production expenses increased by 18 percent to 104 billion tenge ($ 698 million).

KMG EP is among the top three Kazakh oil and gas producers. The overall production in 2011 was 12.3 million tons of crude oil. The total volume of proved and estimated reserves, as of the end of 2011 was 226 million tons (1.7 billion barrels).