Production growth was predominantly driven by the Company’s largest projects, the Prirazlomnoye, Novoportovskoye and Vostochno- Messoyakhskoye fields. Considerable impact also came from a greater interest in Arcticgas and production being launched at the Tazovskoye field.

Expansion of the Group’s resource base in 2018 was supported by an improved exploration and production drilling technology. The Company also obtained more than 20 licences through licence auctions, exploration requests, and M&A deals. A total of four new fields and 27 hydrocarbon deposits were discovered and recorded in the Russian State Register of Mineral Reserves in 2018.

In 2018, refining volumes increased following the completion of scheduled repairs and upgrades throughout the Group’s Russian refineries.
The Group also continued the implementation of the second phase of its environmental compliance and technological refurbishment programme.

The solid growth was driven by favourable oil prices globally and domestically, successful development of new upstream projects, and increased operating efficiency.

In 2018, the Company’s net profit grew by almost 49%, driven by a favourable pricing environment as per unit upstream and refining expenses went down. Cost cutting was made possible by a comprehensive overhaul of refineries and introduction of innovations in the upstream segment.