Raking it in: Rosneft
Oil price surge pays off for Rosneft
Russian producer Rosneft has seen its profits for 2007 jump on the back of acquisitions and strong global oil prices.
Rosneft said its net profit to US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) more than tripled to $12.86 billion last year from $3.53 billion in 2006, beating analysts' forecasts of $12.78 billion.
In the fourth quarter alone, Rosneft's net profit rose to $2.98 billion from $603 million in the fourth quarter of 2006, also above analysts' estimate of $2.87 billion.
Revenues rose to $49.22 billion in 2007 and to $16.49 billion in the fourth quarter. Analysts had expected the company to report revenues of $48.93 billion and $16.45 billion, respectively.
Rosneft said its net debt fell to $23.8 billion at March 31 from $26.3 billion at Dec. 31 and $27.8 billion at Sept. 30.
"The total debt reduction of over $4 billion... represents substantial progress towards the company's target leverage (debt/EBITDA) ratio of approximately one time by the end of 2009," Rosneft said.
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) soared to $5.08 billion in the fourth quarter from $0.87 billion a year earlier and well above analysts' forecast of $4.57 billion.
Last year, Rosneft bought almost all the assets of bankrupt oil producer Yukos at state-forced auctions. The assets, which included two major production units and five refineries, helped Rosneft become Russia's largest oil producer and refiner.