April 01, 2026 [Reuters]- Russia’s largest oil producer, Rosneft, said on Tuesday that its 2025 net income declined by 73% to 293 billion roubles ($3.60 ​billion) due to high interest rates, a high ​profit tax as well as one-off factors.

Rosneft Chief ⁠Executive Officer Igor Sechin, a long-standing ally of ​President Vladimir Putin, also said the Russian oil industry was ​caught up last year in the “ideal storm” of negative geopolitical factors and tight domestic macroeconomic conditions.

Rosneft and Russia’s second-largest oil producer ​Lukoil were sanctioned by the United States last October.

Sechin said ​that this year, high oil prices, bolstered by the Middle East conflict, ‌are ⁠in large part offset by rising freight rates, insurance and other rising costs.

Front-month Brent futures hit a record monthly gain of 64% in March, according to ​LSEG data dating ​back to ⁠June 1988. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate has gained around 52% in the month, ​its biggest jump since May 2020.

Rosneft’s CEO ​said ⁠that in March, freight rates for transportation of Russian oil to India from the Baltic Sea’s ports exceeded $20 ⁠per ​barrel, 10 times the costs for ​shipping oil from Russia to Europe in early 2022.