UPDATE: Lukoil Sees $2 Billion In 4Q 2008 Write-offs
March 27 2009 - 12:18PM
Dow Jones News
Russia's biggest independent oil producer OAO Lukoil (LKOH.RS)
said Friday it expects almost $2 billion in write-offs for the
fourth quarter of 2008, but operations and cashflow have picked up
in the first months of this year.
The company said it will make a loss of around $950 million due
to a weakened ruble and a $170 million write-off in exploration
costs, as no commercial reserves were discovered at some
projects.
Lukoil expects to write off around $850 million due to crude oil
and products inventory write-offs at refineries and retail
networks.
The company said the losses were mainly caused by commodity
prices and currency volatility during the period.
"All of these impairments and write-downs are connected with a
series of simultaneous unfavorable financial and price factors,
which do not have an analog in the contemporary history of the oil
industry," Lukoil said in a statement.
The company said preliminary operating and financial results in
the first months of this year indicate a "stabilization and a
strengthening trend in the operations of the company and its cash
flow."
Company Web site: www.lukoil.com
-By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 937
8445; jacob.pedersen@dowjones.com