TNK-BP Profit Rises 53% on Crude Export Duty Lag, Strong Ruble

TNK-BP, the Russian oil venture OAO Rosneft plans to acquire, said profit rose 53 percent as it benefited from a lag in export duties and the ruble’s strength.

Net income grew to $2.73 billion from $1.79 billion a year earlier, TNK-BP International Ltd. said today in a statement.

“Export duties and taxes other than income tax decreased by 10 percent quarter-on-quarter primarily due to a comparative positive effect of duty lag,” according to TNK-BP’s statement. Foreign exchange gains also boosted profit, the company said.

TNK-BP is benefiting from a cut in export duties in October last year as Russian leader Vladimir Putin, then prime minister, seeks to maintain output at more than 10 million barrels a day for at least a decade. The 50-50 venture is the first of Russia’s oil and gas companies to publish third-quarter financial results to international standards.

State-run Rosneft, the country’s largest producer, said last week it plans to buy the 50-50 venture from BP Plc (BP/) and its billionaire partners for almost $55 billion.

Revenue gained 2.8 percent from a year earlier to $15.7 billion, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization climbed $4.31 billion from $3.46 billion, according to the statement. Oil and gas output advanced 0.4 percent to 2.003 million barrels a day.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Torrey Clark at tclark8@bloomberg.net; Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net