Russia’s Oil Giant Reports Devastating Losses as Economic Pressure Mounts
Gazprom Neft, one of the flagship entities of Russia’s oil industry, reported a staggering net loss of 21.3 billion rubles in the first quarter of 2025 under Russian Accounting Standards (RSBU), a dramatic reversal from the 36.9 billion ruble profit it posted during the same period in 2024.
The figures, disclosed in the company’s latest financial report, signal a growing crisis in the Kremlin’s fossil fuel sector amid rising costs, waning revenues, and global isolation.
Revenue fell by 5% to 767.6 billion rubles compared to last year, while production costs rose by 6.8% to 685.4 billion rubles.
This sharp imbalance caused Gazprom Neft’s gross profit to plunge by more than half to just 82.2 billion rubles. Operating profit from sales also saw a catastrophic collapse, decreasing 4.3 times to 17.8 billion rubles. After taxes, the company’s net loss ballooned to 29.1 billion rubles—compared to a 45.9 billion ruble post-tax profit in Q1 2024.
This marks the first time since 2021 that Gazprom Neft has published quarterly RSBU results. From 2022 through 2024, no such data was publicly released—part of a broader trend of concealment within Russian state-linked corporations amid mounting financial instability.
Historically, Gazprom Neft has recorded intermittent losses since 2018, particularly during economic downturns and oil price slumps. In Q1 2018, it posted a loss of 13.4 billion rubles. The situation worsened in subsequent years: 2.8 billion rubles in 2019, 24.2 billion rubles in 2020, and 10.1 billion rubles in 2021.
This return to transparency comes at a time of mounting international scrutiny over Russia’s energy sector, which has been hit hard by Western sanctions, price caps, and a shrinking list of global buyers willing to handle Russian oil. The loss also suggests structural weaknesses within the country’s energy behemoths—once the backbone of its state revenue.
For the Kremlin, oil revenue is survival of the regime—it's political.
The loss of energy profits translates to a diminished ability to fund the war machine, subsidize propaganda, and maintain internal economic control.
With oil companies bleeding and sanctions tightening, Russia’s economic decline is accelerating—and even its most powerful corporations are not immune.