OREANDA-NEWS. LUKOIL Group (subsidiary companies and LUKOIL’s share in output by affiliated companies) total hydrocarbon production available for sale totaled 2.18 mln boe per day in nine months of 2007, up 43 th. boe per day  y-o-y.

Crude oil output of LUKOIL Group totaled 1,967 th. bpd* (up 2.3% y-o-y), or 72.7 mln tons. LUKOIL subsidiary companies produced 70.8 mln tons of crude, up 3.5% y-o-y. Natural and associated gas output of LUKOIL Group available for sale was 9.95 bcm, which is 0.4% less than in nine months of 2006.

LUKOIL production growth rates were impacted by the sale in the end of April of a 50% stake in Caspian Investments (former Nelson Resources), engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production inKazakhstan, as well as by the limitations placed by Gazprom on natural gas intake.

Throughputs at the Company’s own refineries in Russia grew by 9.5% y-o-y, to 31.51 mln tons, due to LUKOIL refining capacity expansion and modernization as well as high refinery margins in Russia . Despite a temporary decrease in refinery throughputs due to a scheduled turnaround at the Burgas refinery, throughputs at own foreign refineries remained almost unchanged and totaled 7.13 mln tons in nine months of 2007. LUKOIL refined 38.64 mln tons of crude at the Company’s own refineries in Russia and abroad, up 7.6% y-o-y.