KazMunaiGas E&P to increase 2007 dividend by 12.6 pct

ALMATY, May 29 (Reuters) - London-listed Kazakh oil producer KazMunaiGas Exploration and Production (KMG E&P) (KMGq.L: Quote, Profile, Research) will pay about $346 million in dividends for 2007, the company said on Thursday.

KMG E&P said in a statement its shareholders had approved a dividend of 563 tenge per share (about $0.78 per Global Depositary Receipt) at an annual meeting on May 28. For 2006 it paid 500 tenge a share.

The sum represents an ordinary dividend fixed at 15 percent of net profit and a portion of a dividend paid to KMG E&P by Kazgermunai, a smaller oil producer in which KMG E&P bought a 50 percent stake last year.

KMG E&P net income rose 28 percent in 2007 to $1.282 billion thanks to high crude prices.

Kazakh state oil and gas firm KazMunaiGas [KMG.UL] has a controlling stake in KMG E&P. (Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Greg Mahlich)