KazMunaiGas Exploration Production (RDGZ), the London-traded unit of Kazakhstan’s state-run energy company, increased second-quarter profit 14 percent as oil prices rose. Net income grew to 55.3 billion tenge ($376 million) from 48.4 billion tenge a year earlier, KazMunaiGas EP said today in a statement. Sales gained 39 percent to 208.5 billion tenge. Oil production fell 3 percent to 6.3 million metric tons in the first half from a year earlier after power cuts and a strike at fields belonging to its Uzenmunaigaz unit. Output is expected to be 800,000 tons, or 6 percent, below the consolidated target for this year at KazMunaiGas EP, according to the statement. The average price of Brent crude oil in the first half was $111 per barrel, up 44 percent from the $77 per barrel in the same period last year, the company said. To contact the reporters on this story: Nariman Gizitdinov in Almaty at ngizitdinov@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net

Source