ALMATY, FEB. 26 2016, (The Conway Bulletin) — KMG EP posted a 37% fall in revenues in 2015 to 530b tenge ($2.4m), its lowest since 2009, because of depressed oil prices.

KMG EP is the exploration and production branch of Kazakhstan’s state-owned energy company Kazmunaigas. The collapse in KMG EP’s revenues mirrors the rest of Kazakhstan’s oil and gas sector.

But, although it posted a drop in revenue, KMG EP also boasted a 400% rise in net profit to $1.1b.

This was linked to the depreciation of the Kazakh tenge. KMG EP’s income is mainly in US dollars and its costs are in tenge.

Lower taxes and the write-down of its Ozenmunaigas field in western Kazakhstan also helped KMG EP’s profit. Ozenmunaigas had become a drain on the company, pulling in investment and extra salaries after rioting by workers in 2011.

But it was the depreciation of the tenge that drove most of KMG EP’s profit. KMG EP “recognised a foreign exchange gain of 449b tenge ($2b), as over 93% of cash and financial assets were denominated in foreign currencies at the time of the currency devaluation,” the company said in its annual report.

This boost, though, essentially disguised what would have been a loss in 2015, as analysts pointed out.

“The FX gain is a one off profit and will not affect the future operating profit of the company,” Gulmariya Zhapakova, analyst at Halyk Finance, said in a report.

KMG EP’s yearly report also said that salary inflation would hit it in 2016. It is under pressure from workers and their unions to raise salaries after the tenge lost half its value over the past year.

Production in 2015 was flat. KMG EP and its subsidiaries extracted 12.4m tonnes of oil.