Russia's Rosneft reports USD1.9b profit in Q4 

(MENAFN) Russian oil and gas firm OAO Rosneft reported a 69 percent decline in quarter-on-quarter profits on a charge related to unproven reserves, Bloomberg reported.

The company said it made USD1.9 billion net profit during the fourth quarter, down from USD6.04 billion in the third quarter.

The company also reported a 2.3 percent decline in quarterly revenue to USD2636 billion from the third quarter on deterioration in product markets and lower sales.

Rosneft will become the world's largest publicly traded crude oil producer after a 55 billion deal to buy Russia's third-largest oil company, TNK-BP, which is expected to close in the first half.

The company its third quarter results were hurt by an impairment charge of unproved reserves and unfavourable lower foreign exchange gain than the previous quarter.

Earnings in the previous three months were also buoyed by a gain on the acquisition of gas company OOO Itera.

Oil and gas production rose 3.4 percent to 2.82 million barrels a day, according to the statement.