Gazprom Neft Trims 2017 Output

Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft said on Tuesday it planned to increase oil production by 4.5-5% next year, less than it had intended before Russia joined a deal to cut global production with OPEC. "Certainly we planned before the OPEC deal to grow output more aggressively," the company's CEO Alexander Dyukov told reporters, Sputnik reported. Dyukov said Gazprom Neft expected to produce 85.8 million tons of hydrocarbons in 2016 and that net profit would rise significantly this year. He said a higher net profit would possibly lead to an increase in dividends paid to Gazprom Neft's shareholders. "We anticipate that net operating profit will continue to rise in the years to come, increasing dividend payments," he explained. He also said the company would reach production levels of 150,000 barrels per day at its Iraqi Badra field in 2018, not 2017, and that Gazprom Neft's budget for next year was based on an average oil price of $48 per barrel.