MOSCOW, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Igor Sechin, the head of Russian energy giant Rosneft, criticized the country's central bank on Wednesday for what he calle
MOSCOW, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Igor Sechin, the head of
Russian energy giant Rosneft, criticized the country’s
central bank on Wednesday for what he called a “failure” to set
up a trans-border payments mechanism.
Sechin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin,
said in a statement that pressure from sanctions since the
Ukraine conflict have been piling up on the company as new
restrictions are being introduced.
“Amid the tightening of sanctions, Bank of Russia has not
yet created a reliable means for executing cross-border payments
in different currencies, which impedes timely deposit of export
revenue,” Sechin said.
Sechin made the comments as Rosneft reported a profit jump
amid tight cost controls. Its nine-month net income increased
76.2% year-on-year to 1.1 trillion roubles ($12.40 billion),
while its January through September sales declined by 8.2% from
the same period in 2022 to 6.6 trillion roubles.
Oil and gas condensate output rose by 3.9% for the period to
4 million barrels per day, the company said.
Russian oil producers have faced severe Western sanctions
over the conflict in Ukraine. They have found ways to set up new
transport and logistic sales and diverted oil sales to China and
India, away from traditional sales markets in Europe.
One of Russia’s most lucrative oil trade routes, to India,
faces a major challenge since Western sanctions because of the
drawbacks of payment in currency other than dollars, with no
short-term solution in sight.
Sechin also said high Russian central bank’s interest rates,
which it hiked to 15% last month, “adversely affect the cost of
financing for the company, its suppliers and contractors leading
to higher project costs and delivery time.”
($1 = 88.6955 roubles)
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin
Editing by Chris Reese and Josie Kao)
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