Lukoil sees Q1 gas flow recovery
Russia's Lukoil produced 5.5% more gas in the first quarter compared with Q1 2020, thanks to a post COVID-19 recovery in output in Uzbekistan.
The private company produced 8.8bn m3 of gas in the three-month period, which also marked a 9.1% increase quarter on quarter. Extraction outside Russia soared 22.1% yr/yr to 4.5bn m3, thanks to a rebound in supply from its Kandym-Khauzak-Shady and South-West Gissar projects in Uzbekistan. These fields drastically reduced exports to China last year in response to the pandemic's impact on demand.
Lukoil's gas production in Russia dipped 7.6%. yr/yr in Q1, however, because of OPEC+ restrictions, which limited how much associated petroleum gas the company could produce.
The growth in gas supply, together with higher oil prices and stronger fuel demand, led to Lukoil's Ebitda more than doubling yr/yr to 314.4bn rubles ($4.3bn) in Q1, despite a 11.6% drop in liquids production to 1.58mn barrels/day. Its upstream Ebitda climbed to 223.8bn rubles, from 109bn rubles a year earlier, while earnings from refining, marketing and distribution nearly tripled to 120.2bn rubles from 40.3bn rubles.