MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/. The actions by the Bank of Russia on setting the exchange rate of the ruble lead to incremental costs associated with the calculation of the tax base, and understate the value of oil in rubles, Igor Sechin, Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of Rosneft, said.
In the first quarter of 2025, Rosneft operated in the context of continuous deterioration of the macroeconomic environment, which included lower prices and wider discounts for Russia’s Urals crude oil, new sanction restrictions, as well as a stronger ruble, Sechin said in a statement released by the press service of the company.
"The Bank of Russia independently sets the exchange rate of the national currency, considering, primarily, the realities of the financial system. The use of such exchange rate thus does not take into account the economic conditions of the company's operations leading to incremental costs associated with the calculation of the tax base, currency conversion, understating the value of oil in rubles and so on," he was quoted as saying.
Moreover, Rosneft’s EBITDA was under the additional pressure from rising transportation expenses due to the tariff indexation by natural monopolies in the reporting period, according to the company's chief executive. "For example, Transneft oil transportation tariffs have gone up by 9.9% since January 2025, while petroleum product transportation tariffs and freight railroad transportation expenses have increased by 13.8% since the end of 2024," he said. Q1 2025 EBITDA fell by 15.5% quarter-on-quarter to 598 bln rubles ($7.7 bln), the company reported.