OIL AND GAS COMPANIES THE MOST PROFITABLE IN RUSSIA IN 2024 – ANALYSIS

MOSCOW, March 23 (Bernama-Sputnik/RIA Novosti) -- Russian oil and gas companies, as well as financial and insurance companies saw the biggest profits in 2024, while wholesale companies suffered the biggest losses, a RIA Novosti analysis of Russian statistical data showed.

Oil and gas companies earned 5.7 trillion rubles (US$67.3 billion) last year, up 10 per cent from 2023, according to the federal statistics service Rosstat's figures. Financial and insurance companies generated 3.2 trillion rubles in profits, down 2.1 per cent compared to 2023.

Wholesale companies saw their profits shrink by 17.5 per cent in 2024 to 3 trillion rubles, while their losses grew 4.1 times to 1.2 trillion rubles.

The financial sector suffered the biggest losses, which amounted to 993.5 billion rubles in 2024, while a year earlier the losses reached 570 billion rubles.

Scientific and technology companies also suffered significant losses in 2024, which amounted to 573 billion rubles.

Of the sectors that posted losses, only four did not generate enough profit to offset them. These included cultural institutions, such as libraries, archives and museums, which posted 500 million rubles in net losses; postal and delivery services (33.9 billion rubles in losses); and road transport (48.6 billion rubles).

Coal mining saw the greatest gap between profits and losses in 2024. Their earnings decreased 3.2 times to 140.4 billion rubles, while losses increased 2.6 times to 253 billion rubles.

Overall, Russian companies saw their losses grow 37.7 per cent to a cumulative 7.2 trillion rubles, while their profits fell 0.8 per cent to 37.6 trillion rubles.

-- BERNAMA-SPUTNIK/RIA NOVOSTI