Russneft expecting higher EBITDA, further reduction in debt in 2018
MOSCOW. June 4 (Interfax) - Russneft expect EBITDA to increase in 2018, company head Yevgeny Tolochek told Interfax in an interview.
"Our EBITDA in 2017 was around 30 billion rubles, and I can say with a great deal of certainty that it will surely be no less than that this year. But how much exactly will depend on the macroeconomic environment. It's too early right now to make forecasts due to significant market volatility," he said.
"Growth will be achieved via two key factors - a favorable macroeconomic environment, which will in turn be determined by the results of the current OPEC+ agreement, as well as a chain of external political events. The second factor will be higher enhanced oil recovery (EOR) rates on the back of increased drilling volumes at deposits where reserves are not easily extractable, leading to an increase in the share of high-yield oil in overall volume of production," Tolochek said.
A debt/EBITDA ratio of 2.7x is comfortable for the company. "This indicator will fall naturally. We are operating within concluded contracts, within lending agreements, keeping to all covenants which are outlined in those agreements. So, debt will gradually decline," he said.