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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Dyukov, Gazprom Neft has shown remarkable performance. Last year, the company achieved its highest ever sales revenue of 3.5 trillion rubles, and EBITDA of 1.3 trillion.

The company's capital investments are looking good – they have reached an impressive 570 billion rubles. The level of raw material processing is also at a record high, thanks to the utilisation of advanced technologies, including digital solutions.

What do you envision for the company's future prospects? How can we support you?

Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov: Mr President,

You are absolutely correct. Last year was a successful one for our company. The first quarter of this year has also been promising, with strong performance. Gazprom Neft continues to operate steadily, meeting the demand for oil and petroleum products in both domestic and foreign markets. However, serving the needs of the domestic market remains our priority.

The Russian economy is growing at a rapid pace. There is an increasing demand for motor fuels and other oil products, lubricants, bitumen materials, and petrochemicals. Both the industry as a whole and Gazprom Neft are responding to this demand by increasing production volumes and supplies to the domestic market.

By doing so, we are able to enhance our financial performance and contribute more to the national budget. In the first quarter alone, our tax contributions increased by 57 percent compared to the same period in 2023.

I said that the company’s operations are stable, but our goal is not only to remain stable but also to actively develop. This is the purpose of the investment programme in production. Last April, we launched the third unit of the Urengoyskoye field into industrial operation. We are developing several major fields in the Arctic and Eastern Siberia.

Developing technology and working with hard-to-recover reserves are crucial parts of our operations. Hard-to-recover reserves currently account for 65 percent, almost 70 percent, of the company’s production portfolio. It is a very important segment.

It goes without saying that refining is also crucially important. We are completing comprehensive modernisation. Last year, we upgraded the Omsk Refinery, the largest in Russia, which has the capacity of 21 million tonnes. Now, it is essentially a new oil processing facility with a refinery yield of 99 percent. Ninety percent of the processing units are new.

Next year, we will complete comprehensive modernisation of the Moscow Refinery, also aiming to achieve the refinery yield of 99 percent.

Thanks to modernisation, we are not only boosting refinery yield but also expanding our line of oil products. The Omsk Refinery, for example, now produces more than 1,000 oil products, from motor fuel to lubricants, bitumen, needle coke for metal production, as well as catalysts and petrochemical products.

Overall, the industry has made significant progress in the past 25 years. Production has grown by 65 percent, putting Russia back among the leaders in oil production, and playing an important role in ensuring the stability of the global market. This growth has been driven by technological development, which prompted the development of new oil and gas regions in the Arctic and Eastern Siberia. As I said, another segment worth mentioning is operations with hard-to-recover reserves.

These operations require special materials, equipment and technology. A great deal has been achieved over the years. We have the necessary technology to operate in the new regions (there are certain specifics and nuances) and to work with hard-to-access reserves. These are operations that rely on new technology, equipment and digital development. We have everything we need.

Vladimir Putin: I know that your company pays much attention, as I have already mentioned, to the use of latest technologies and cutting-edge solutions, including digital ones.

Which technologies, out all those that you use, have given you the greatest returns and the most satisfaction? What would you like to focus on as the most promising areas?

Alexander Dyukov: Mr President, the oil sector is a knowledge-intensive sector. To discover, produce and process oil we need thousands of technologies and thousands of different types of equipment, specifically 1,400 types of basic equipment that are necessary for this purpose.

In fact, each type of equipment is important. I want to emphasise that when it comes to machine building and Russian oil companies, we have made a lot of progress during this time to achieve independence from imports and to ensure technological independence.

If we look at equipment shortage, currently it is only 200 items. The work that has been done over the recent years accounts for 1,200 items. We can be proud of each technology and type of equipment that we have learned to produce.

We have set ourselves the task of eliminating this equipment shortfall by 2027. In terms of technology, we are independent from imports, fully independent technologically. There is a slight dependence on equipment, but it will be eliminated by 2027. This will not only allow us to achieve technological independence, but it will also provide additional orders for our machine builders. According to our estimates, the value of these additional orders amounts to one trillion rubles.

Of course, digital technologies are very important and enable us to increase work productivity, both in dealing with hard-to-extract reserves and with traditional reserves. We apply them across the entire value chain, from prospecting to production, processing and marketing.

Vladimir Putin: Good.

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