Pakistan Oil Fields flat at 3.72 bln rupees

KARACHI, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Pakistan Oil Fields Ltd (POL) on Friday reported a marginal fall of 0.8 percent in earnings for the first half of 2007/08 (July-June) due to lower production from one of its major fields.

POL (PKOL.KA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which also produces liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), solvent oil and sulphur, posted a net profit of 3.72 billion rupees ($60.2 million) for the half year ending Dec. 31, the company said in a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). The firm earned a net profit of 3.75 billion rupees in the corresponding period last year.

The result was in line with a range of between 3.53 billion rupees and 3.76 billion rupees, forecast by five analysts surveyed by Reuters. POL, which has an index weightage of 1.7 percent, is part of the Attock group, which is backed by Saudi Arabia's Pharaon group.

At 0452 GMT, POL shares were down 1.25 rupees to 337.15, in a broader market that was down 0.32 percent.

($1 = 61.78 Pakistani rupees)

(Reporting by Sahar Ahmed)