OREANDA-NEWS. January 25, 2013. Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin reported to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on Rosneft performance in 2012, reported the press-centre of Rosneft.

In his report Igor Sechin noted that the Company tax payments to the budget amounted to 1.7 trillion RUR or 12% of all budget tax revenue. "Rosneft is actually the largest taxpayer in the country", - said Igor Sechin.

Igor Sechin said that the last year's instruction of the President on increase of the Company dividends to shareholders was fulfilled - they were almost tripled and the government received the additional 60 billion RUR in dividends. The Company also invested approximately 23 billion RUR into the social sector.

Large acquisitions influenced the growth of the Company's capitalization. According to Rosneft CEO, the actual growth of share value was 35% - from USD 6.6 to USD 8.9 per share. "The Company’s capitalization currently stands at USD 92 billion", - he said. In response to a question from Vladimir Putin on the potential for further growth of capitalization, Igor Sechin said that given the favorable international market conditions and efficient performance, a target of USD 120 billion would be a fair value.

"Last year the Company's production grew by 2.7%, or 3.3 million tonnes in the absolute figures, and at the end of 2012 the total Company's production under the RAS was 125.8 million tonnes", - he noted. The overall reserves replacement ratio was 191%, which is "decent indicator", he noted, having added that the incremental reserves from the last year equal 240 million tons. "Rosneft is the world's leader at the oil and gas market in terms of reserves" - noted Igor Sechin.

Rosneft identified priority strategic partners that committed themselves to investing more than USD 6 billion into exploration of the offshore Arctic, Sea of Okhotsk and the Black Sea under the risk terms.

Year 2012 was notable for the start of large-scale operations in the Russian offshore, reported Igor Sechin. Over a short Arctic season Rosneft completed 5.3 thousand linear km of 2D seismic and 3.8 thousand sq. km of 3D seismic. Based on the acquired geological information Rosneft together with its partners from ExxonMobil have established the drilling location for the first well at Universitetskaya Structure in the Kara Sea. Drilling will start in 2014, one year earlier that initially planned.

Upgrade of the Company’s refineries was gaining momentum in 2012. Last year two new units were commissioned with 24 more process units being under construction, around 55% of key process equipment was contracted. The total investment in modernization will equal \\$25 billion net of VAT.