Cash Hoard at Russia's Surgut Swells to $30 billion
The cash reserves of Russia's third-largest crude oil producer Surgutneftegaz climbed 27 percent to 1.3 trillion roubles ($30 billion) in the nine months to September, company data and Reuters calculations showed on Friday.
At the end of 2013, Surgutneftegaz's cash pile, which includes bank deposits and cash on hand, had stood at 1.02 trillion roubles.
Analysts believe the company, based in west Siberian city of Surgut, has built up its cash pile to safeguard against a possible hostile takeover. The company has never commented on the reasons for its large cash reserves.
Surgutneftegas is still headed by Soviet-era "red director" Vladimir Bogdanov and analysts believe management controls around 90 percent of the company through an evolving structure of affiliates - including the in-house pension fund.
Management has never fully disclosed the company's ownership.
According to financial results under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) published on Friday, Surgut's net income for the nine months to September rose to 357.4 billion roubles from 204.8 billion roubles in the year-earlier period.
Net profit under RAS is the basis for the company's dividend pay out.
The political crisis over Ukraine has hurt the Russian rouble and the economy, and Surgut will likely benefit from selling oil abroad in dollars. Its share price in roubles has barely changed since the beginning of the year, outperforming its peers and the broader Russia index, although in dollar terms it has weakened.
(Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques)
