State-controlled StatoilHydro ASA on Tuesday reported a more than 60 percent increase in net profits for the first quarter from a year earlier due to high oil and natural gas prices and strong production. The company said its net profit for the January through March period was 16 billion kroner (US$3.15 billion; ¤2.04 billion), compared with 9.9 billion kroner a year earlier, due largely to a 42 percent increase in crude oil prices during the year. «We deliver a good first-quarter result characterized by solid production in a market with high oil and gas prices», Helge Lund, StatoilHydro's chief executive was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
