The Gazprom Neft Board of Directors reviews management of the company’s debt portfolio and efficiency improvements at the company’s refineries
The Gazprom Neft Board of Directors has reviewed information on the management and structure of the company’s debt portfolio throughout 2016, as well as proposals for its optimisation in 2017.
The company met all of its financial obligations throughout 2016, as well as improving certain aspects of its debt portfolio, with its overall debt burden showing a reduction on 2015.
Gazprom Neft last year completed three successful market placements of rouble-denominated bonds with a total nominal value of RUB50 billion and, moreover, record low coupon rates among all Russian corporate debt offerings.
Gazprom Neft entered into various credit agreements with major Russian banks last year in order to ensure the fulfilment of all financial obligations throughout 2017.
The company plans to select optimum instruments for managing its debt portfolio throughout 2017 in the light of prevailing market conditions, as well as continuing to work on the refinancing of its most significant commitments.
The Board of Directors was also provided with information on the implementation of various initiatives in cost reduction and income enhancement throughout the company’s refineries.
Improving the viability of its refineries is one of the priority objectives of the major modernisation programme currently being implemented by Gazprom Neft throughout its facilities. The company has been working systematically on improving efficiency in oil refining, allowing it to control cost increases and improve profitability. As part of this initiative Gazprom Neft is implementing projects directed at increasing plant productivity, increasing the capacity and energy efficiency of refining assets, improving operational reliability, and reducing non-recoverable losses. The total economic effect of implementing programmes to improve the viability of the company’s oil refining facilities totalled approximately RUB41 billion in 2016.
The Board of Directors also examined information on the effectiveness of various tools utilised in optimising business planning in refining and sales.
The system allowing companies to optimise their business planning encompasses all business activities relating to refining and retailing. Work on implementing and developing the system, which was initiated in 2007 and which still continues today, includes embedding optimisation models and integrating these with each other and other systems within the company, as well as developing and fine-tuning various business processes. The system allows optimum financial outcomes to be secured, both in planning for the production, distribution, transportation and sale of oil products, and in implementing plans, undertaking extensive analysis and putting together business plans for investment projects in oil refining, as well as monitoring the fulfilment of these.
The development of processes and tools to optimise various aspects of refining and sales is being undertaken by specialists at the company’s Competence Centre for Improvements in Planning, established in 2013. The centre’s staff includes specialists working on models for improving the planning process throughout the company’s headquarters, refining facilities, and subsidiaries.
Gazprom Neft is a market leader in its use of systems to optimise the planning process and has, for the last seven years, held annual specialist industry conferences attended by Russian and international companies.
Tags: shareholders, management, modernisation