Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) and its subsidiaries posted a net profit of 2.29 billion dollars in the last fiscal year following the surge in crude oil prices, an official report said Thursday.
Oil prices in the 1999/2000 budget that ended on June 30 were calculated on the basis of $10 a barrel, while actual prices topped $20 , the finance ministry report said.
Revenues stood at $20.37 billion, more than double the estimated $9.88 billion, while expenditures hit $17.82 billion, also more than twice the projected $8.05 billion.
KPC, which declared assets of $29 billion, recorded $2.55 billion in gross profits, of which some $260 million was set aside as a mandatory reserve.
Sales of crude oil stood at $9.52 billion and petroleum products at $7.96 billion.
The oil-rich emirate has calculated oil income in the current nine-month budget (July-2000/March-2001) at $13 a barrel, while the actual price of Kuwait's oil is currently topping $25 a barrel.
Kuwait has limited the budget to nine months in a date switch to conform to a March/April budgetary year.
KPC has estimated this year's revenues at $9.36 billion, with expenditures at $8.09 billion, leaving a profit of $1.27 billion.
KPC was established two decades ago to oversee the whole oil sector through a number of affiliates inside and outside Kuwait.
Besides operating in oil, KPC invests some $12 billion of surplus in international markets and according to latest reports 45 percent of its profits come from returns on investments.—AFP.
©--Agence France Presse.
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
