The Moscow Times: Oil Giant Rosneft Struggles as Western Sanctions Take Toll

The Kremlin's prized oil firm Rosneft is cutting staff and production and selling stakes in Siberian fields in the strongest evidence to date that Western sanctions are hurting what was the world's fastest growing oil firm in recent years.

The sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and Europe in response to its military action in Ukraine have cut Rosneft's access to Western financing and technology, complicating the servicing of its $55 billion debt and closing the way to cutting-edge industrial science it needs to keep developing its energy resources.

Few doubt that Rosneft will be able to withstand the pressure medium-term —its earnings amount to $30 billion a year and billions more are still available via Chinese credit lines and Russian state coffers in case of emergency.
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