Rosneft oil giant posts 8.9% net profit slump in Q1

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, saw first quarter 2012 IFRS net profit decrease 8.9 percent year-on-year to 112 billion rubles ($3.812 billion), the company said on Wednesday, May 2, RIA Novosti reported.

That was above a consensus forecast of analysts polled by RIA Novosti who expected the oil giant's net financial result at $2.933 billion.

Rosneft is publishing its financial results to IFRS for the first time - previously the company published its financial statements to US GAAP.

The company's revenue grew 27.2 percent in January-March 2012 to 748 billion rubles, while EBITDA amounted to 165 billion rubles, a 14.9 percent fall compared with the same period in 2011.

Rosneft's hydrocarbon production rose 2.7 percent to 2.634 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Oil production for the year was up 2.3 percent, while gas output grew 9.4 percent year-on-year.

"Our Q1 results are much better than planned," Rosneft President Eduard Khudainatov was quoted in the statement as saying. "We exercised prudent cost management and achieved outstanding efficiency given the macroeconomic environment. Our key objectives for this year are to press ahead with our large-scale production and refining projects and optimize our business across the board."