2023 Annual General Meeting

At the culmination of what has been an exceptional year for us, we convened our Annual General Meeting on 7 April, which was attended by a plethora of executives, managers, and other delegates associated with our organization. Throughout the course of affairs, the attendees deliberated on the results of our 2022 Consolidated Financial Statements, which were published in the days prior. This document was ultimately prepared in accordance with the latest International Financial Reporting Standards, otherwise known as IFRS, and was audited in due course. As a result, it was later unanimously approved by a vote of our stakeholders, in conjunction with the corresponding annual report. Similar motions were passed in relation to the reelection of each member of our board of directors, and to retain the current composition of our audit committee. On the other hand, our shareholders resolved to appoint a new external auditor on the recommendation of our leadership, following the dissolution of its predecessor in May last year. As per previous congresses, all those involved opted to forego a dividend for another twelve months, with consensus amongst attendees that it is in the best interests of Rusneftegaz to continue to reinvest all funds we accrue. Such a decision will allow us to further expedite our revised 2020-2024 investment plan, the implementation of which has been significantly delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite this, we can disclose that our organization has registered record revenues for the last financial year, with a total of $703,6 million being earned in the past twelve months. This figure marks the first time our organization has amassed in excess of $700,0 million within such a timeframe in our corporate history, and represents a 43,3% increase upon the $491,0 million accrued during 2021. However, whilst these numbers are perceived as a major success by our management, this was not emulated in our earnings, which registered a nominal 7,9% decline. Overall, Rusneftegaz can announce a pre-tax profit of $235,1 million, down from the $255,3 million attributable to last year, but up on the $110,0 million gained twelve months before. Whilst these results are generally positive, our company continues to be affected by adverse conditions beyond our control or that we can attempt to mitigate. Foremost, the immediate improvement in our financial reporting on an annual basis is largely due to the minimal effect coronavirus and pandemic-related restrictions have had on our operations in recent times. It should be noted that in 2021, the year in which we are comparing our results for this period, our business was still heavily impacted by stringent regulations. For instance, the board of directors agreed in August 2021 that remote working practices would have to continue beyond their anticipated end date.

Such lasting success is ultimately attributable to numerous factors, although the primary determinant was the end of the recent health crisis. This is exemplified by the announcement we made in mid-February, when Rusneftegaz published a comprehensive strategy to end remaining virus mitigation measures within three months. Thus, our organization managed to return all our administrative personnel to their respective offices and workstations full-time in May, fully abolishing remote working practices entirely, in conjunction with the removal of all distancing measures. The implementation of this program resulted in our organization being able to fully realize the benefits of the investments made over the past decade. Such spending has yielded production conducted with greater efficiency through the utilization of modern equipment, contemporary best practices, and renovated units. Whilst it was clear internally to managers and engineers, our economic data from the past two years was considerably weighted by the costs of managing a pandemic, including having to purchase expensive screening and protection apparatus and deploying policies in the best interests of employee health, rather than the technical and financial progress of Rusneftegaz. As a result, our board of directors also announced in February that our five-year investment program had been revised, and that a new plan was due to be executed at the start of the second quarter.

Consequently, our organization spent $159,4 million on new assets between April and June of this year, with management aiming to recover the lost days that have occurred since the advent of the decade. Our total outlays on new infrastructure last year ultimately equated to $274,8 million, another corporate record, with this particular sum inflated by additional spending to have all works completed at a faster rate than would typically be organized. This was a considerable increase on the $54,4 million expended in 2021, and as a result, a far greater percentage of this figure is the value of labor costs than would conventionally be recognized. Similarly, it is also important to note that all this new spending has derived from the capital our enterprise accrued and retained during the pandemic years, and therefore we have not relied upon any external investments to accommodate these disbursements. For clarification, this includes injections of equity from third parties, and any loans or borrowings. However, despite the fact that this is fundamentally positive for our company, there are still critical matters of serious concern that may have a lasting impact on our business. The unexpected deterioration in diplomatic relations between Russia and Western nations since the beginning of 2022 necessitated a comprehensive revision of our broader trading strategy, which was outlined in September of last year.

Relations have deteriorated to such an extent that we were compelled to undertake additional security measures in May last year to protect our business from external threats, chiefly originating from the internet, following attacks against other Russian companies and organizations. Whereas prior to the events that have unfolded, our organization maintained extensive relationships with corporations across the globe, Rusneftegaz is now largely reliant on the domestic market for petroleum sales. Moreover, the subsequent imposition of restrictions on Russian crude and refined products by the European Union, which have taken full effect since the beginning of February, severely undermines our expansion plans for the months and years ahead. This is particularly acute in areas where we have significant numbers of commercial partners headquartered in what are now adversarial countries. Although in the longer term our management will seek to expand our attention to the East Asian market, until the necessary agreements have been reached, our options to sell our products in Europe have been reduced by embargoes and other constraints, both de jure and de facto. Nevertheless, our management has had adequate time to prepare for such constraints, and has therefore executed a comprehensive plan to mitigate the effects of these punitive measures.

Primarily, this includes varying our sources of petroleum supply for our international trading operation, and focusing on developing our presence in new and emerging markets, such as East and Southeast Asia. Our executive leadership is also particularly interested in doing business in the Indian subcontinent, where numerous opportunities have emerged in recent times. Despite the fact that trading solely within the borders of the Russian Federation has not restricted our turnover, it has resulted in our organization becoming less able to mitigate the risks associated with fluctuations in the value of currency. A plurality of our transactions were completed using the Russian ruble in the last twelve months, which despite showing indicators of depreciation in the first half of 2022, eventually stabilized and recovered from the historic lows of earlier this year, strengthening against the legal tender of other countries at a record rate and finishing the period at the strongest it has been in almost a decade. Correspondingly, broader economic conditions are also generally in our favor. Commodities prices continue to be high, and are forecasted to remain in excess of pre-pandemic values for the foreseeable future, or until those nations who have disavowed Russian petroleum are capable of adequately replacing the easily accessible supplies of refined products elsewhere.

Whilst commodity prices at the end of the period were lower than in the first six months, such figures were eminently higher than at the same time the year prior. Nonetheless, it should be noted that since the conclusion of the fourth quarter, petroleum values have continued to recede further, and this may influence our financial reporting for 2023. In the immediate term, these factors have been mitigated by utilizing futures contracts to counteract the falls in prices. Such agreements have also abated the effects of declines in our production rates since the end of June, with oil extraction totaling 5,94 million barrels in the last year. This number marks a 6,1% gain on the 5,60 million barrels lifted in the twelve months prior, with overall production peaking at 17.625 barrels per day (bpd). Generally speaking, this equates to a daily average of 16.274 bpd, with our rate of extraction at its greatest in the first months of the year and declining incrementally thereafter. To demonstrate this, during the first quarter of the year we produced approximately 16.698 bpd, which then declined to 16.425 bpd in the second, before falling again to 16.032 bpd and 15.694 bpd in the third and final periods of 2022, respectively. On balance, our executive leadership is satisfied with these totals, and retains the capability to expand the volume of hydrocarbons we lift at short notice if necessary.

Likewise, there were similar changes in the amount of electricity we generated, which also improved in alignment with the corresponding gains in other areas of our enterprise. By the end of the year, we created a total of 10,31 TWh of energy for our customers, a 9,2% rise on the 9,44 TWh that was produced in the twelve months prior. Unlike with our oil extraction activities, the peak of our power operations occurs in the final quarter of the year, with generation equating to 3,90 TWh over the ninety-two-day span. There was, however, greater volatility in this particular part of our enterprise, with production volumes fluctuating throughout the course of the year. For example, between January and the end of March, we produced 2,01 TWh of energy. This then ascended to 2,31 TWh in the second period, before decreasing to 2,09 TWh in the quarter that ended on 30 September. Whilst in broad terms, variability is not considered conducive to success, our leadership continues to correctly forecast our generation rates for the year ahead within the margin of error. For instance, our electricity production is always forecasted to peak in the fourth quarter due to annual peaks in demand, as it has done so since our corporate records began.

Upon consideration of the wider circumstances, our board of directors remains wholly positive regarding our future. At present, not all trends are favorable in the immediate term, but there are numerous reasons to be optimistic for the months ahead. We continue to retain the services of a talented pool of personnel, who have been crucial to many of our achievements. As a consequence of this, our organization hosted an awards ceremony at the end of November to mark these individual accomplishments. The major prizewinners on the evening itself were Artem Shaparov and Artur Denisov, who were chosen as employee and young employee of the year, respectively. Both of whom have registered an excellent personal performance throughout the last twelve months, with the former project managing technical projects in the field, with the latter making strong progress since he first joined Rusneftegaz in 2021. Likewise, we continue to maintain sufficient resources to circumvent any challenges our entity may face, and retain the capability to be proactive to issues that may arise. We frequently demonstrated these skills last year, particularly when it was necessary for us to respond as quickly as possible to changes in circumstances, such as when we comprehensively enhanced our cybersecurity within a seventy-day timeframe, or when we executed amendments to our trading strategy.
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Although these are undoubtedly the greatest strengths that our organization possesses, there remains a great degree of uncertainty pertaining to our immediate future. As a result, our management believes it is currently too difficult to competently project how we shall fare in the weeks and months ahead, due to the ongoing volatility in both the commodity and currency markets. This has been exacerbated by an ever-deteriorating geopolitical situation, which is not showing any signs of abating in the short term. It is the intransigent belief of many in our organization, including our leadership, that reliable projections will be problematic until this matter is suitably resolved. Despite this, there is no reason to believe that our profits will significantly diminish in 2023, with our company beginning its transition into new markets and territories with strong prospects for growth in the decades ahead. Moreover, while the events of the past twelve months have undermined our global expansion plans, we remain determined to realize these projects in full, with our executives having no intention of reducing the scope of our ambition. Such aspiration has been the foundation of our success over the past two decades, and we wholeheartedly believe that it is fundamental to our progress from this moment onward. ​