Russia's energy giant to invest 16 bln USD in 2018

MOSCOW, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Total investments of Russia's top oil producer Rosneft in 2018 are expected to reach 950 billion rubles (about 16.2 billion U.S. dollars), the company said Monday.

Rosneft forecasts its investments to rise to 950 billion rubles in 2018 and exceed one trillion rubles (about 17 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019, due to the fact that the company is "entering the final stage of the implementation of major projects", Rosneft's first vice-president Pavel Fedoro told reporters following a meeting of senior executives in the Russian city of Sochi.

Rosneft Board of Directors approved the "Rosneft-2022" Strategy at the meeting, the next five-year plan aimed to qualitatively change the business model by focusing on the implementation of key projects, introducing advanced management approaches and new technologies, and increasing the returns of existing assets of the company, it said in a statement.

In order to improve the quality of investment and project management, Rosneft will prioritize the completion of development projects at domestic refineries with improved operational efficiency and cost reduction, the statement said.

Seeing production of liquids including crude oil at 250 million tons by 2022, the company also plans to develop gas and petrochemical businesses in the next five years, with the aim to occupy 20 percent on domestic gas market.

It will also accelerate technological development and digitalization as well as adopt the holding management structure under the five-year strategy, according to the statement. Enditem