OREANDA-NEWS. April 16, 2010. Alliance Oil released 1Q10 operating results. Oil production for 1Q10 amounted to 3.8mm barrels (-2.5% QoQ). The company’s crude production in the Tomsk Region dropped by 12.5% QoQ, though production in other regions remained steady. Preliminary refining volumes at the Khabarovsk refinery also remained unchanged QoQ, amounting to 5.6mm barrels, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE FC.

View: The results in Alliance’s upstream segment are somewhat disappointing. However, we view as temporary the setbacks in production in the Tomsk Region and the zero QoQ growth in other regions. From our standpoint, these results are primarily attributable to the extraordinarily cold winter and sluggish production at some of the Tomsk brownfields. The weaker figures for refining volumes were unsurprising since Alliance Oil is currently upgrading the capacities of the Khabarovsk Refinery. The company’s operating results in the refining segment are in line with our estimates and with company guidance (21mm barrels in FY10, or almost zero YoY growth). However, the company confirmed its 2010 crude output guidance of 17mm barrels.

Valuation and Action: Alliance Oil trades at a 3% discount on P/E to Russian oil majors. We read this news as a short-term negative for its stock.