Russia's Rosneft sees 13pc rise in net profit
Russian energy giant Rosneft said on Thursday its half-year net profit rose 13.1 percent despite "adverse external factors" amid the Russian offensive in Ukraine. The Russian energy giant has been hit by Western sanctions which have impeded its global financing and trading. However its net profit still rose to $7.2 billion following an increase in crude oil prices due to rising global demand and supply constraints brought about by the Russian operation in Ukraine. The company's revenues increased by 32.5 percent, reaching $86.7 billion. In a statement, Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin hailed "stable results" despite the "unprecedented pressure of adverse external factors and unlawful sanctions." The company's statement said that "significant increase in the cost of logistics, rise in railroad transportation tariffs (...) as well as higher electricity costs" had a negative impact on the company. So did the "unprecedented increase of the Bank of Russia's key [interest] rate", which was as high as 20 percent and has now gone down to eight percent. Having processed 45.8 million tonnes of oil this semester, Rosneft said its debt had decreased by 12 percent from the beginning of the year. It also announced the "discovery of two new deposits with recoverable crude oil reserves of 101.4 million tonnes" in the area of the gigantic project "Vostok Oil" in the region of Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. The construction of the Vostok Oil project facilities, which started in 2021, "continues as planned" the statement added. (AFP)