Russian oil and gas company PJSC Lukoil reported first-quarter 2018 profit attributable to shareholders soared 75% on the year to 109.1 billion Russian rubles amid the recent rally in global crude oil prices.
Brent oil futures are trading near $75.00 per barrel after surging to about $80/bbl earlier in May, their highest level since the end of 2014, amid growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela, and the recent withdrawal of the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and reinstatement of sanctions against the country.
During the first quarter, Lukoil's EBITDA was 219.5 billion rubles, rising 5.7% on the year.
"The year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter EBITDA dynamics was supported by the increased share of high-margin barrels in total production, better refined product slate at our refineries and higher sales volumes via premium marketing channels," the company said in a May 28 news release.
Although first-quarter sales were down 1.9% from the fourth quarter of 2017 to 1.63 trillion rubles due mostly to a decline in trading volumes and inventory build-up, they were 13.9% higher on the yearly period due to the advance in crude prices.
In the first quarter, the Russian company's capital expenditures were 121.1 billion rubles, down 12.1% on the quarter and 7.0% on the year mainly due to lower investments in the global upstream sector.
In January, the company announced that it intended to launch a share buyback program to distribute capital to shareholders.
"On the share buyback, we're currently working on structure and corporate approvals and plan to start executing the program in the second half of this year. The parameters of the program haven't changed. It's $3 billion for five years with the intention to start a new program when this amount is spent," Alexander Matytsyn, senior vice president of finance, said during a May 29 earnings conference call.
As of May 28, US$1 was equivalent to about 62.37 Russian rubles.
