MAZEIKIAI — Маzeikiu Nafta reported its consolidated preliminary financial results for nine months of 2005 to the Vilnius Stock Exchange.

The Company earned 776 million Litas (281 million US dollars) un-audited net profit during the nine months of 2005 under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), while un-audited net profit for nine months of 2004 under the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) was 448.2 million Litas (158.5 million US dollars). Net profit for the third quarter of 2005 was 399 million Litas (141 million US dollars), while net profit for the same period a year ago was 215.9 million Litas (76.1 million US dollars).

Company’s revenues reached 7.899 billion Litas (2.883 billion US dollars) during the nine months of 2005, or 2.529 billion Litas (981 million US dollars) more than in the same period last year.

Despite the increased revenues and net profit, the net margin remained quite modest and was below 10 per cent.

“Any refiner in a global economy today is extremely dependant on the situation in the world crude oil and refined products market. Mazeikiu Nafta is not an exception. Through my entire career of 20+ years in the refining business I have not seen such a positive market. Average crack margin (Urals 5-2-2-1) for nine months of 2005 reached a record-high 113.42 USD per metric ton, compared with average margin of 92.37 USD in 2004 and 62.02 USD in 2003”. — said P. Nelson English, General Director of Mazeikiu Nafta, “But this is not the market alone—refinery improvement made by the staff have led to increased refining volumes over the last two years and enabled us to capture the benefits of the positive market margins. These improvements were a result of the innovations and vigilance of Mazeikiu Nafta employees”, added P. Nelson English.

Company sold 6.25 million tons of refined products as compared with 5.84 total sales during nine months of 2004.

Western Europe remained the largest market for Mazeikiu Nafta with 41 per cent of sales volumes (2.58 million metric tons) followed by Lithuania (21 per cent or 1.337 million tons) and the USA (17 per cent or 1.043 million metric tons). Estonia, Latvia and Poland each made for over 6 per cent of sales (385 thousand, 396 thousand and 387 thousand metric tons respectively). The remaining 2 per cent of sales came from Ukraine, Russia and Moldova (122 thousand metric tons).

Маzeikiu Nafta refined 6.75 million metric tons of crude and other feedstock during the nine months of 2005, which is by 471 thousand metric tons more than during the same period last year. The refinery reached a record monthly throughput in September by processing 863 thousand metric tons of crude oil.

The Butinge Terminal loaded 4.19 million metric tons of crude during the nine months of 2005, compared to 6.34 million metric tons for the same period of 2004. The Terminal loaded 42 tankers from January through September 2005, compared to 63 tankers loaded in the same period of 2004.

The pipeline system transhipped 14.80 million metric tons of crude and diesel during the nine months of 2005, compared to 15.24 million metric tons for the same period a year ago.

Маzeikiu Nafta collected and paid over 2.1 billion Litas in taxes during the nine months of 2005.

Date: October 28, 2005
Contacts:
Giedrius Karsokas
AB Mazeikiu Nafta
tel. +370 610 65298
fax +370 443 92579
giedrius.karsokas@nafta.lt