CORPORATE

CORPORATE -- State-controlled Rosneft, Russia's biggest oil producer, confirmed it will do all it can to increase production following the decision of the Opec-plus group to gradually bring back reduced volumes (PIW Jul.30'21). Rosneft executives told shareholders on a quarterly earnings call that they expect investments to grow, including in the flagship Vostok Oil onshore project in the Russian Arctic. At the end of June it had the potential to increase production by 25,000 metric tons a day (183,000 b/d), the company said. Following the Opec-plus agreement to ease production cuts, Rosneft's crude output grew by 5.1% in the second quarter from the first three months of the year to 4.97 million b/d. Capital expenditures grew by 25.9% in ruble terms and 15.1% in US dollars in the first half of the year, driven by investments at the Vostok project and increased drilling by subsidiary Yuganskneftegas. Rosneft said it has prepared a plan for pilot production to begin in 2022 at the Payakhskoye field, the core asset of Vostok. Rosneft’s net profit of 382 billion rubles ($5.1 billion) was 2½ times larger than for the whole of 2020, and around 3.5% higher than what analysts were expecting.