The history of Rosneft Oil Company is inextricably connected with the history of the domestic petroleum industry. The first reference to the enterprises being now a part of Rosneft go back to the end of 19th of century. For example, in 1889 the oil-field exploration on Sakhalin was launched.

The core assets of Rosneft Oil Company were established during the Soviet period when full-scale development of new oil and gas fields was launched. In the 1990s the major part of the petroleum industry was privatized. The petroleum assets remaining state-run had been managed by the state enterprise Rosneft which was reorganized in September 1995 into Open Joint Stock Oil Company Rosneft. According to the results of 1995 the volume of production of oil and liquid hydrocarbons amounted to 12.7 million tons.

Within a short period of time the Company dramatically increased the level of corporate management efficiency, made a determined effort on consolidation of oil producing and refining assets, enhanced the financial discipline. Already in 2005 Rosneft took leadership among the Russian oil companies in terms of volumes of oil production which amounted to 74.6 million tons.

In 2006 Rosneft stocks were placed in on the London Stock Exchange for the first time. The total amount of the stocks floated was $10.7 billion which was the fifth largest IPO in the world and the biggest IPO among the Russian companies. Global players of the power market such as BP and SINOPEC placed their trust in the Company. They became its major shareholders, as well as about 150,000 Russian individuals who acquired Rosneft’s shares.

In 2013 Rosneft was considered the largest public oil and gas company in the world at consummation of the acquisition of TNK-BP. BP has become the largest minority shareholder of Rosneft with a participation interest of 19.5%.

In 2016 Rosneft achieved a major success in completion of the integrated transaction on privatization of a 19.5% participation interest of the company as well as the controlling block of shares of Bashneft resulting in receipt of RUB 1.04 tln by the Government.

Rosneft is the leader of the Russian oil industry and the largest publicly traded oil company in the world*. The Company's core activities include hydrocarbon prospecting and exploration, production of oil, gas and gas condensate, implementation of offshore field development projects, refining, sales of oil, gas and refined products in Russia and abroad.

The Company is included in the list of Russia's strategic enterprises. Its main shareholder (40.4% of shares) is ROSNEFTEGAZ JSC, 100% state-owned, 19.75% belongs to BP Russian Investments Limited, 18.46% to QH Oil Investments LLC, and one share belongs to the state represented by the Federal Agency for State Property Management (see Section  Structure of Shareholder Capital). 

Rosneft carries out its activities in Russia, Germany, India, China, Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Indonesia, Brazil, Norway, the Republic of Cuba, Mozambique, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, Ukraine and other countries. PJSC NK Rosneft operates in all major petroleum provinces of Russia including Western Siberia, Eastern Siberia, Povolzhskiy and Uralskiy regions, Far East, Timan-Pechora, Krasnodar Territory as well as the sea shelves of the Russian Federation including Arctic shelf.

Rosneft is the leader of Russian oil refining. The oil refining and petrochemical division of the company includes 18 oil refinery plants (ORP) located in the key regions of Russia as well as in Germany, the Republic of Belarus and India. The distribution network of the Company covers 59 regions of Russia. Being a shareholder of Nayara Energy, Rosneft holds a large network of gas stations (GS) in India.

Upstream (Exploration and production)

Rosneft is the largest oil and gas company in Russia and the world's largest public oil and gas company in terms of reserves and production of the liquid hydrocarbons. According to the results of 2018 the hydrocarbon reserves as per PRMS classification by 1P category amounted to 47 billion barrels of oil equivalent (bbl o.e.), by 2P - 84 billion bbl o.e., by 3P - 121 billion bbl o.e.

The development of resource potential and the rational development of subsoil resources, with strict observance of environmental safety standards and the widespread introduction of modern technologies is one of the key priorities of the Company. Rosneft performs oil and gas exploration works in all regions of subsurface management in the Russian Federation including Far East, Western and Eastern Siberia, the central part of Russia, Timan-Pechora and the south of Russia.

Rosneft surpasses its competitors in efficiency of the performed exploration works: it is the leading company among the comparable public international oil and gas companies in terms of systematic increment of reserves, reserves replacement rate (173% as per SEC classification), including systematic reserves replacement rate without consideration of acquisition and reserves life. The proven hydrocarbon reserves life of PJSC NK Rosneft as per SEC classification was estimated at 20 years.

Rosneft is the world’s largest producer of liquid hydrocarbons among the public oil and gas companies.

In the short-term Rosneft intends to ensure up to 98% of success in oil and gas exploration works, essential improvements in operating procedures of exploitation drilling and sidetracking at the current level of economic efficiency. Rosneft’s share in oil production in the territory of the Russian Federation reaches about 40% and over 6% of the world oil production. The efficient portfolio management of the assets in extraction industry as well as investments in new field developments allows Rosneft maintaining a stable current and long-term growth in hydrocarbon production.

From year to year the Company extends exploitation drilling. The horizontal well rate has amounted to 48%, there is growth in the number of new horizontal wells with multi-stage fracking. The rate of the own drilling operations in the whole volume of headway has reached 50%

Rosneft pays considerable attention to the development of stranded fields. The era of “easy” oil recovery comes to an end but there is a huge potential in Russia in HTR reserves (hard to recover reserves). The successful exploration and application of new technologies including auger boring methods made it possible for the Company to start efficient development of hard to recover oil reserves.

For example, in accordance with the key parameters of the Development Program for Samotlorskoe field, the Company shall drill more than 2,400 wells within 10 years. This will ensure incremental oil production in excess of 50 million tons.

In 2017, in the territory of KhMAD (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District)-Yugra which is the main oil and gas producing presence region of the Company, the Erginskiy cluster was arranged and commissioned with total reserves of 259 mln tons of oil. An integrated approach to development of the Erginskiy field and the Kondinskoye field cluster, which implies a unified system of transport, power supply and development management shall ensure a high level of synergy and accelerated development of the cluster resource potential. The developed infrastructure of the largest asset in the Rosneft oil production, RN Yuganskneftegaz wall also be used during the new project implementation in KhMAD.

In the mid-term, production enhancement of mature fields and active development of new challenging oil and gas projects including the Vankor cluster, Erginskiy cluster, Russkoe, Yurubchenko-Tokhomskoye, Kharampurskoye and Severo-Komsomolskoye fields will allow ramping up the Company’s production on an organic basis.

Within the worldwide trend of growth of gas production and application as the most sustainable fossil fuels Rosneft continuous increasing volume of gas both in the asset portfolio and hydrocarbon production.

The main centers of production growth in the coming years are Rospan project (Novo-Urengoyskiy and Vostochno-Urengoyskiy license areas) and Kharampurskoye field.

Acquisition of 30% of the Italian Eni S.p.A under the concessionaire agreement on development of Zohr field which is the biggest gas field in the Mediterranean Sea has become a significant event.  The Company has become a participant of the project at the deep marine shelf of Egypt in cooperation with the world majors and the strategic partners Eni (60% share) and BP (10% share). Gas production is being implemented ahead of schedule, the level of the gas production in volume of 57 mln. of cubic meters per day has been achieved within less than 1 year after starting up of the field.

The Company is the largest subsurface user at the Russian shelf:  Rosneft holds 55 licenses for the offshore sectors of the Russian Federation.  The hydrocarbon resources in these sectors are estimated as 41.5 billion tons of oil equivalent.

Rosneft fulfills the ambitious program on exploration of the shelf subsurface sites and exceed license commitments on yearly every year.  The Company performs seismic exploration works in the areas of Barents, Pechora, Kara, Vostochno-Sibirskoye, Chukchee and Laptev Seas.

Oil refining

Rosneft is the leader of the Russian oil refining industry. The Company accounts for more than 35% of oil refining in the Russian Federation.

The oil refinery and petrochemical sections of the Company consists of 18 large oil refineries.

Rosneft fulfils the most ambitious program on modernization of oil refinery plants including modernization of process capacities of Komsomolskiy oil refinery, modernization of Tuapsinskiy oil refinery, reconstruction and modernization of Achinskiy oil refinery, Angarsk petrochemical company and Samara group plants. The aggregate investments within the program exceed 1 trillion rubles.  By today the stage of adoption of the European standards has been completed, more than 30 facilities have been reconstructed.  For the time being the reconstruction of the installation is being continued which will yield more light products.

The Company’s priority consists in development of the assets in oil refinery on the developed and increasing consumer markets, establishment of trading and sales hubs.  Rosneft casts a special role to petrochemistry within the strategy.  The Company expects more rapid growth of the world demand in petrochemicals than GDP growth and consumption of the petrochemicals.  Rosneft establishes a goal to achieve a share of petrochemistry and chemical utilization of natural gas up to 20% of the total volume of all refining capacities.  And this goal is completely achievable particularly with consideration of the fact that the investments shall be disposed with the involvement of project financing as well as with participation of the experienced partners with consideration of the required technologies and developed production trade channels.

The petrochemical complex of the oil company Rosneft includes Angarskiy zavod polimerov JSC (AZP), Novokuybyshevskaya neftekhimicheskaya kompaniya JSC (NNK), Ufaorgsintez PJSC (UOS).  Besides, the petrochemical production is represented by the aromatics complex at Bashneft-Ufaneftechim and capacities on  production of methanol, butyl alcohols, amines of Angarsk petrochemical company.

Distribution network

Retail network of the Oil company Rosneft is the biggest on the territory of Russian Federation in terms of geographic coverage and quantity of stations.  The corporate identity of Rosneft gas stations is one of the leading brands in Russia in terms of awareness and perception of the fuel quality.  Rosneft retail business territory covers 66 regions of Russia, from Murmansk in the north to North Caucasus in the south and from Smolensk in the west to Sakhalin in the east.  Moreover, the Company owns assets in retail business in Abkhazia, republic of Belarus and Kirghizia.

The network of the operating gas stations of the Company includes around 3000 own stations and stations on lease, particularly 65 gas stations in the republic of Belarus, on the territory of Abkhazia and Kirghizia. There are 1890 shops and 925 cafes are arranged in the own stations and stations on lease. The network of the oil bases of the Company includes more than 140 operating oil bases with a capacity of 2,5 mln. cub. m as well as around 1,1 thousand gas tank trucks.

The retail network of 5 thousand gas stations belongs to Nayara Energy Limited whose owner is Oil company Rosneft PJSC for 49,13%. Within 4 years from the moment of conclusion of the transaction it was succeeded to increase its share on the growing Indian market, quantity of the gas stations of the company increased more than 3 times.

Development of premium distribution channels for the  petrochemicals including avia refueling, bunker and bitumen segments is one of the priority directions for Rosneft.

Rosneft ensures into-plane fueling in 43 Russian and foreign airports.

The activities of the oil company Rosneft PJSC in the bunker segment cover are conducted in all main sea and river ports of bunkering in Russia as well as number of foreign territories.

In the bitumen segments Rosneft develops production and distribution of the innovative product which is polymer modified asphalt cement (PM designed for quality  improvement of road pavement.

Far Eastern shipyard

By order of the country’s president Rosneft implements an ambitious project on development of ship-building ship-building cluster in the Far East in the heart of which there will be Zvezda ship building complex (SBC). The shipyard is being constructed over two phases. The production activities are being conducted already on the facilities of the first extended phase put into service in 2016 and 2017 (hull production workshop module, paintshops and heavy open fitting out staple). In September 2016 in Bolshoy Kamen city Vladimir Putin took part in the ceremonial launch of the first phase of the shipyard.  We have all reasons to believe that the new enterprise will show better KPI performance than that of our main competitors around the world - said the President of the Russian Federation.

One of the key constructions of the first phase is the open heavy fitting out staple. This is a complex engineering construction with an area of 12 hectares.  The staple is equipped with four portal cranes with a load-bearing capacity of 100 tons, two frame cranes with a load-bearing capacity of 320 tons and a Goliath type crane with a load-bearing capacity of 1200 tons being a unique device at the Russian shipyards. The cranes of such type ensure construction of several ships out of large-size blocks simultaneously (the maximum load-bearing capacity of the cranes operating on the Russian shipyards does not exceed 500 tons).

As of 2017 the crane equipment is being used intensively for production purposes. The staple allows constructing the ships and offshore facilities with the length of around 300 meters and width of around 75 meters.   As such, in July 2018 a vessel commissioning floating dock with a load-bearing capacity of 40 thousand tons was supplied to Zvezda SBC. It is designed for launching the large-sized ships with the length of around 300 meters and width of more than 50 meters with launching mass up to 40 000 tons and deadweight up to 350 000 tons as well as marine facilities, particularly drilling platforms and their elements, without any special tools from the staple and provides high quality and safe launching.

The second phase of shipyard construction is scheduled for 2024 to be put into operation  A dry dock is being actively constructed.

The enterprise shall release high-technology capesize vessels, offshore drilling, exploration and production platforms, service fleet ships, including ice class vessels.

The pilot order for the shipyard has provided Rosneft with four multi-purpose supply vessels of enhanced ice class as well as five gas-burning green tankers of Aphramax type compliant with high ecological standards.

There will be created more than 7500 highly-skilled workplaces by 2024 as well as the Company has allocated  funds for construction of six residential houses.

At the ceremonial launch of the first phase of the shipyard Vladimir Putin declared that development of civil shipbuilding and putting into operation of new production facilities are the key strategies for enhancement of the industrial capacity in the Far East of Russia.  The President noticed importance of implementation of the complex strategy of Rosneft in the Far East in the framework of which not only the level of the hydrocarbon production is increased but also the research works are performed, the social projects are implemented and the infrastructure ensuring qualitative build-up is created.  All of this reflects a thorough, responsible approach to business development and provides a good landmark for other large Russian and foreign companies regarding the investments in the Far East, - said Vladimir Putin.

Environmental safety

The new strategy of Rosneft is based on construction of a business that takes the highest requirements in the field of ecology, industrial safety and environmental protection into account. Rosneft undertook obligations to enter the first quarter of the list of the world oil and gas companies by key indicators in this area by 2022. In order to achieve better performance in these areas, Rosneft constantly improves its approaches to management of environmental protection activity, increases the scope of its environmental protection events and the necessary  investments in environmental protection.

The care for the environment is an integral part of the Company’s corporate culture and social responsibility of the Company. Rosneft does utmost to ensure environmental protection, preservation and restoration of natural resources.

Rosneft being a biggest user of subsurface resources in the shelf area of Russia conducts a study on white bears in the areas of challenging development of hydrocarbons in the framework of the scientific research expeditions Kara-zima and Kara-leto performed on yearly basis. The white bear is one of the main indicator species of sustainable condition of the Arctic ecosystems. The Company supports the programs on study and preservation of population of Amur tiger, wild reindeer on the territory of Evenkiya, Sibirian sable as well as Atlantic subspecies of seahorse. During the course of the arctic expeditions the company takes biological observations on marine mammals and birds of the Northern seas.

The Russian scientists within the project implemented by Arctic Research Center LLC (which is a part of the corporate of the scientific and project complex of Rosneft) and the non-governmental development institution Innopraktika on the basis of the biologic faculty of Moscow State University in the name of Lomonosov have developed an industrial prototype of a unique biological product designed for cleanup of the coastline and the water area of the Northern seas from oil and petrochemicals spillage.  The technology is based on usage of natural psychrophilous microorganisms which consume the hydrocarbons as a nourish source.

Rosneft is a sponsor of the program of the Institute of Oceanology in the name of Shirshov of Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS) on investigation of the Black sea dolphins. The program is scheduled for three years and stipulates performance of the field studies, acoustic and visual monitoring, laboratorium inspection of the gained data.  The first in thirty years sea expedition of IO RAS on investigation of the Black sea dolphins took place in 2018 with the support of Rosneft. 

Science & Innovations

The Oil company Rosneft PJSC is the leader of the process of qualitative modernization and innovative changes in the Russian oil and gas industry. The Company’s efforts are aimed at developing the intellectual and technological potential of the industry on the basis of a strong foundation of the Russian oil and gas school being one of the best in the world and in partnership with the leading companies of the international oil industry.

In the framework of implementation of the Program of the Oil company Rosneft on innovative development a portfolio of 118 targeted innovative projects has been developed, continuous full scale introduction of new technologies has been arranged both as available from manufactures and successfully applied in the petroleum field.  Practical approval and introduction of the technologies are ensured on several levels depending on the strategic importance and distribution scale with consideration of pilot testing.

A set of actions on improvement of efficiency of scientific and  innovation activities of the Company has been performed in Rosneft including creation of the Corporate scientific and project complex (CSPC) with well-developed infrastructure and scientific and research potential as of today which includes 32 corporate institutes with more than 15 thousand employees.  CSPC is represented in all fields of the Company’s activities particularly abroad; the design products of CSPC relate to all business lines: from field development to retail.

Rosneft counts upon accelerated business digitalization, industrial internet technologies which allow enhancing  monitoring of material flows and excluding human factors.

Social Responsibilities

Rosneft is present in most of the Russian regions.  The Company develops the social infrastructure of the Western Siberia where the most powerful enterprises are located: the Company builds the modern hospitals, sport complexes, ice arenas, schools and child daycare centers.  Rosneft successfully undertakes its social mission in the south of the country, in Krasnodar Territory and Ingushetia, in Povolzhskiy region.  The Company is one of the earliest explorers of Arctics (development of the polar regions depends to a great extent on its initiatives), it implements full scale social projects in the Eastern Siberia and Far East making these territories an integral part of APR.

The Company has entered into the agreements on strategic cooperation with the local authorities of almost all regions of its presence.  These agreements stipulate development of the social infrastructure as a matter of priority.  The projects being implemented are large-scaled, many of them shall change the outlook of the cities and settlements completely, hereby providing the citizens with access to the modern healthcare, educational, sports and recreation as well as housing and utility services.

The subsidiary companies often act as city-forming enterprises which undertake obligations on street and road maintenance, bridge construction, engineering and transport system repair, electrical power and heat supply facilities, equipment replacement.  

Rosneft both ensures social infrastructure and resolves vital regional tasks.  Thus the company has implemented an important full-scale project in Ingushetia resulted in drinking water supply in the region.  Quality of the drinking water was historically the major problem in the region.  Rosneft has allocated funds for modernization of the water management system in the republic. By means of this support the key elements of the water management system have been reconstructed in 19 settlements of Ingushetia, 62 km of water piping and 14 reservoirs with volume of 1 thousand cubic meters have been arranged, 10 artesian wells have been drilled.

Construction of complex of the biological treatment plants Bashneft-Ufaneftechim is another equally important example.  The complex with a production capacity of 84 000 cubic meters per day and has no comparable counterparts both in Russia and in the countries of Eurasia. The reconstruction project has been allocated more than 11 billion rubles.

Determining specific facilities and events for financing, the Company gives preference to social and infrastructural projects with maximal social effectiveness and a direct impact on life quality of residents of the Company’s presence regions including employees of the Group’s Companies.

Rosneft implements dozens of projects related to health maintenance and medicine development.  The monetary resources are allocated for construction, overhaul and reconstruction of health care institutions (clinics, hospitals, medical centers), improvement of material and technical foundation including purchase of a new medical and diagnostic equipment. The flagship projects in this field include the following: opening of multipurpose medical center in Gelendzhik, a new building of the children's hospital in Saratov, development of emergency response operation integrated system for emergency medical support in Extreme North conditions.

Support for the sport is also one of the most important priorities of the social policy of Rosneft and its subsidiaries.  The ice arenas, sport complexes and multifunctional playgrounds are built in the regions of presence at the expense of the Company.

The Company renders support to both amateur and professional sports. Particularly, Rosneft fully finances the hockey club CSKA, Tula football club Arsenal as well as supports Russian sambo athletes and cooperates in implementation of different regional programs on sport development.

Rosneft strongly supports importation events and occurrences in the Russian cultural life.  The funds are allocated for the projects which determine the cultural image of the country, influence the national identity and contributes to understanding of high level of culture in the society, this includes support for Saint Petersburg Philharmonia in the name of Shostakovich, Eifman ballet, Sretenskiy monastery choir, as well as milestone events such as Rafael and Edo exhibition in The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.