ALMETYEVSK, December 29. /TASS/. Tatneft, a major Russian oil company based in the Volga Republic of Tatarstan, has sold $400 million on the domestic currency market at the government’s request to prop up the ruble, Tatneft CEO Nail Maganov said on Monday.
The $400 million was earlier reserved for Tatneft’s foreign loan repayment. The ruble proceeds from the currency sale on the domestic market were channeled into the development of the company’s production capacities, the Tatneft top manager said.
“We have about $13 billion in hard currency earnings for the eleven months of the year and we'll get about $360-400 million in December,” he said.
By the time of the government’s meeting on December 17 that discussed urgent measures to stem the ruble’s slump and stabilize the domestic currency market, including a request for exporter companies to sell hard currency earnings, Tatneft had a small sum of about $400 million for future loan repayment, he said.
“The government offered advantageous terms, on which exporters will be able, if necessary, to get foreign currency from banks at LIBOR plus 0.5%, which is very beneficial. We’ll never be able to operate normally, if we keep accumulating incoming cash on accounts,” the Tatneft head said.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev earlier instructed his first deputy Igor Shuvalov to daily monitor the sale of hard currency earnings by exporter companies to stabilize the domestic foreign exchange market and halt the ruble’s devaluation amid falling world oil prices.
Tatneft, a major Russian oil producer, accounts for about 8% of oil production in the country and over 80% of crude oil output in Tatarstan.
Tatneft produced 26.1 million tons of oil in 2013, of which exports amounted to 12.3 million tons.