OAO Lukoil, Russia's biggest independent oil producer, reported first-quarter profit that missed analysts' estimates after production declined at west Siberian fields.

Net income more than doubled to US$3.16 billion from US$1.3 billion a year earlier, the Moscow-based company said in a statement distributed by the Regulatory News Service yesterday. That missed the US$3.35-billion median estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Crude oil output fell 4.5 percent to 1.92 million barrels a day in the period while production in west Siberia, where the company produces 62 percent of its crude, declined 5.5 percent. Fields there continued "maturing," Lukoil said.

"A significant impact on our production in the period was caused by a lack of sufficient power-generating capacities to meet the growing demand for extra power from a wide range of oil producers in west Siberia," Lukoil said.

Total revenue advanced 59 percent to US$25.1 billion. Hydrocarbon output, including natural gas, fell 2 percent to 2.19 million barrels of oil equivalent a day from 2.24 million barrels of oil a day in first quarter.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has pledged to help restore crude output growth by cutting taxes for oil companies. The government takes 75 percent to 80 percent of their profit in taxes and tariffs.