Rosneft 1Q Profits Up, Output Drifts
Rosneft said May 14 its 1Q net income grew thanks to higher oil prices, but yet again the Russian state-run oil giant did not disclose its debt.
Net income in 1Q2018 was rubles 81bn ($1.3bn at current rates), which it said was seven times its year-ago rubles 11bn, although it was slightly below the rubles 100bn it posted for 4Q2017.
Rosneft announced May 1 that it would take a message on capital discipline from Russian President Vladimir Putin to heart by cutting its debt mountain by $8bn this year but did not disclose end-1Q net debt.
Capital expenditures of rubles 223bn in 1Q2018 ($3.9bn at the average prevailing exchange rate according to Rosneft), which was 16% higher year on year in part because of investment in the Egyptian gas field Zohr in which Rosneft has a 30% equity stake. Rosneft's overall gas production however decreased, despite its Zohr interest.
The company published operational details: net 1Q2018 gas production was 16.87bn m3, down 2% year on year, despite the Zohr contribution (which it did not have in 1Q2017). Rosneft's net combined liquids and gas production was down 1.3% year on year to 5.708 mn barrels of oil equivalent per day, of which liquids production was 1.2% lower at 55.46mn mt (4.5mn b/d) - as a the result of Russia restraining production in cooperation with Opec.
The company also said it piloted three retail filling stations at Ulyanovsk and Voronezh to sell compressed natural gas (CNG), with reconstruction of another eight expected “in the near future.”