Reuters: 'Perfect Storm' In Oil Market Collapsed Profits Of Putin's Friend's Company

• 1.04.2026, 10:51

Clouds are gathering over Sechin and Rosneft.

The net profit of Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft collapsed 73% to 293 billion rubles ($3.60 billion) for 2025, according to a report released by the oil company.

The Reuters agency explains that the oil giant's net profit has plummeted due to high interest rates, high income tax, and sanctions.

Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, a longtime associate of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, said the Russian oil industry was caught in a "perfect storm" of negative geopolitical factors and tough domestic macroeconomic conditions last year.

Rosneft and Russia's second-largest oil producer Lukoil fell under US sanctions in October 2025.

It follows from the words of the Rosneft head that even the jump in oil prices after the outbreak of war in the Middle East did not provide the company with a "dollar rain." Sechin noted that high oil prices are largely offset by the rising cost of transportation of Russian "black gold," as well as insurance and other expenses.

He noted that in March freight rates for the transportation of Russian oil to India from Baltic Sea ports exceeded $20 per barrel, which is 10 times the cost of shipping oil from Russia to Europe in early 2022.