Rosneft doubles net income

Russia’s biggest oil company Rosneft said yesterday it more than doubled its net income last year, taking advantage of the climbing price of crude despite an unstable market. The state-controlled company reported a net income of 549 billion rubles ($8.4 billion, 7.3 billion euros) in 2018, up from 222 billion rubles the previous year.

Revenues increased by 37 percent year on year to 8.2 trillion rubles. Rosneft cited “favourable world price dynamics,” caused in part by capping of output agreed with OPEC cartel countries, as well as improved company efficiency among the reasons for its increased revenue. Rosneft chief Igor Sechin said in a statement that the company plans investments between 1.2 and 1.3 trillion rubles in 2019 as it implements “strategic upstream oil and gas projects”.

The firm also said it was keeping an eye on the political crisis in Venezuela, where it has been a major investor in the country’s struggling economy over the past few years.