OREANDA-NEWS. Ukrnafta (UNAF: SELL) released its January-September UAS statements las week, posting net income of USD 164.1 mln (down 2.3 times y-o-y) and net sales of USD 764.2 mln (down 1.7x y-o-y). For 3Q07, net income came to USD 83.7 mln (down 1.8x y-o-y) and net sales of USD 195.0 mln (down 2.4x y-o-y). The company's EBITDA dropped by 48% y-o-y, to USD 315.5 mln from USD 606.4 mln last year. According to analysts of Concord company, the main reasons for the deterioration of the company's performance this year were higher royalties (+47% y-o-y), lower than expected revenue from natural gas and from oil products. Ukrnafta will not retail more than 1 mln mt of oil products in 2007 (~30% below forecast) due to the stalled expansion of its fuel stations network. "There is a possibility that sales of natural gas will recover by year-end, as we estimate that a large portion of extracted gas has been stored. However, the effect is likely to be partially offset by lower than forecasted price of gas," the experts surmise.