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LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Sibir Energy Plc, the AIM-listed oil and gas
group, said it has decided to defer its planned move to the official list of the
London Stock Exchange.
The delay will give the group enough time to complete a corporate
restructuring and "deal with the complicated integration" of the Moscow Oil and
Gas Co acquisition, it said. Sibir originally planned to move its shares to the
official list next month.
"The deferred timetable envisages application to the official list either at
the end of the second half of 2008 or in the first half of 2009," Sibir said in
a statement.
Separately, Sibir said its overall production in the first quarter rose 50
percent to a record 5.9 million barrels of oil, equivalent to 64,400 barrels per
day, reflecting increased output from the Salym fields in Western Siberia.
Salym is operated by Salym Petroleum Development, a 50/50 joint venture
between Sibir and Anglo-Dutch oil group Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Sibir said its weighted average netback on domestic and export crude sales
after transportation and export duty and before mineral extraction tax was
$40.20 per barrel for the quarter.
In the downstream business, the group said its trading operation processed
9.2 million barrels of crude at the Moscow Refinery in the quarter, up 101
percent. Gross margins on product sales from processing averaged $7.30 a barrel.
Sibir said its share of fuels sales volumes from its MTK and Mosnefteprodukt
retail networks as well as its joint venture with BP Plc totaled 131 million
litres.
"The first quarter was a period of record production and trading results for
Sibir driven primarily by production increases at the Salym fields and increased
refining volumes at the Moscow Refinery. Sibir also benefited from strong prices
and netbacks for its crude production and refined products," said Henry Cameron,
Sibir chief executive.
At 8.54 am, Sibir shares were down 1 percent at 623 pence.
monicca.egoy@thomsonreuters.com
mbe/lam
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