Rosneft working to limit effects of sanctions, profits jump

Russia's state-held oil giant Rosneft said on Friday it was working on a plans to reduce the effects of Western sanctions over Ukraine, and announced a five-fold jump in second-quarter earnings. ‘Together with our partners -- the world's leading oil companies -- we are working on a plan to minimise the consequences of including Rosneft on the sanction lists,’ Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin said in the company's earning statement. Rosneft was hit by US sanctions last week and the European Union is considering tightening exports of technology needed to explore and extract energy from remote Russian regions. Meanwhile the company beat analyst expectations to post a second-quarter net profit of 172 billion rubles (3.6 billion euros, $4.9 billion). Profits were boosted by positive exchange rate effects, and a 22-per cent jump in sales compared with the second quarter of 2013 to 1.44 trillion rubles. Operating profit measured as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) soared 41 per cent to 304 billion rubles. Output rose 4.6 per cent to 5.01 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. Oil output edged up 1.3 per cent while production of natural gas jumped by 33 per cent, according to AFP.