OREANDA-NEWS. On March 31, 2008 Russia’s second largest natural gas producer’s Novatek RAS net profit increased by 25% y/y to RUB 16,2bn (USD 689mn) in 2007, company reported. In Q4/07 alone, net profit went up by 26,7% q/q to RUB 5bn, which company attributed to growth in sales and rising prices.

Novateks’s natural gas output went down by 0,7% y/y to 28,5bn m3 in 2007, which makes it the second largest domestic producer of natural gas after Gazprom.

Novatek account for about 29% of country’s gas output and plans to increase this share to 40% over the next five years.