RusEnergy

28 May, 2009 – MosNews - Russia's top oil producer Rosneft said Thursday that first-quarter net profit dropped 19.7 percent to $2.1 billion from the same period a year ago because of lower oil prices and weaker domestic demand. The figure is down from $2.6 billion a year ago — but 65 percent up from the 2008 fourth quarter, when state-controlled Rosneft was under pressure from a steep drop in oil prices and higher export duties, the company said in a statement. Revenues in the first quarter of 2009 fell by 49.5 percent over the year to $8.3 billion. Rosneft's earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, dropped 50.7 percent, to $2.3 billion. EBITDA is sometimes used as a measure of a company's basic business activity once financial items are stripped out. Rosneft said it had cut net debt by $2 billion to $19.2 due to "strong free cash flow generation." Crude production dropped 0.7 percent compared to one year ago to 2.1 billion barrels a day. Oil prices fell from all-time highs of $147 per barrel in July to a trough around $35, but have since recovered to trade over $60 per barrel.