Rosneft shareholders on 19 June approved a final dividend of 2.27 roubles per share for 2025, taking the full-year payout to 13.83 roubles—a steep decline from the 51.15 roubles distributed for 2024. The decision, taken at the company’s first in-person annual meeting since 2019, reflects a 73 percent year-on-year contraction in net profit to 293 billion roubles, which the company attributes to lower crude prices, a stronger rouble, sanctions, and the high interest-rate environment. The payout still respects the group’s policy of returning at least 50 percent of IFRS net profit to shareholders.

The reduction mirrors a wider squeeze on Russian equity income. Aggregate dividends from Russian issuers halved to roughly 640 billion roubles in the first nine months of 2025, from 1.2 trillion a year earlier, as the oil and gas sector bore the brunt of deteriorating market conditions. Rosneft and Lukoil are nevertheless expected to account for three-quarters of the remaining 750 billion roubles in payouts forecast by year-end, according to Moscow-based analysts. The company’s free cash flow stood at 700 billion roubles, while capital expenditure was held to 1.4 trillion roubles after a rigorous review of investment projects.

Chief executive Igor Sechin used the meeting, held at the Zvezda shipyard in the Far East, to underscore Rosneft’s fiscal weight: the company paid 5 trillion roubles in taxes and other obligatory payments in 2025, down from a record 6.1 trillion in 2024 but still making it Russia’s largest taxpayer. He also noted an eightfold increase in private shareholders over five years to nearly 1.7 million, a trend that mirrors the broader retail investor boom on the Moscow Exchange, where individual accounts have surpassed 40 million. On operations, Sechin said Rosneft sells all the oil it produces and aims to raise output, but stressed that the priority is the domestic market: the company is ‘practically not exporting’ fuel, guaranteeing supplies to socially significant facilities, state enterprises, industry and agriculture.

The pledge comes as Russia’s fuel market faces disruptions from unscheduled refinery maintenance, high seasonal demand, and drone attacks on infrastructure. Restrictions on fuel sales have appeared in several regions, and some independent stations are operating with negative margins. Sechin acknowledged the ‘not easy’ situation but insisted Rosneft’s 3,000-plus filling stations are operating normally, though the company discourages the use of canisters. The next concrete milestone is the 9 July record date for the dividend, while market participants will watch whether refinery runs stabilise and whether the government extends its export ban on petrol beyond the current 31 July deadline.