Russia's third-largest crude producer Gazpromneft increased its profit more than fourfold last year to hit an all-time high of 503bn roubles ($6.7bn), underpinned by record production and a sharp rise in the price of oil and refined products.
The company's upstream oil and gas output rose by 6pc on the year to 2.05mn b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d), or 101.4mn t of oil equivalent (toe), making Gazpromneft the fastest growing Russian oil firm in terms of production. "In 2021, the company reached the 100mn toe milestone for the first time in its history, having doubled production within 10 years," chief executive Alexander Dyukov said.
Gazpromneft had aimed to hit the 100mn toe milestone in 2020 but fell short because of the Covid-induced slump in demand combined with Opec+ restrictions. The firm attributes last year's strong output growth to higher crude production at oil rim projects and the launch of gas infrastructure at the Tazovskoye and Novoportovskoye oil fields. Its crude and condensate output increased by around 2pc year on year to 1.26mn b/d, buoyed by Russia's rising Opec+ quota.
Gazpromneft expects to maintain the momentum over the next few years. It is targeting a 10pc increase in oil and gas production this year, followed by 5pc/yr growth in 2023 and 2024.
In the downstream sector, the company increased its refining throughput by around 8pc to 43.5mn t last year and raised its oil product output by 7pc to 42.3mn t, driven by the easing of Covid restrictions.
Gazpromneft reported a profit of Rbs146bn on revenue of Rbs907bn in the fourth quarter of last year, up by 80pc and 65pc on the same period in 2020 respectively.
