MOSCOW, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Igor Sechin, the head of Russian energy giant Rosneft, criticized the country's central bank on Wednesday for what he called a "failure" to set up a trans-border payments mechanism.
Sechin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said in a statement that pressure from sanctions since the Ukraine conflict have been piling up on the company as new restrictions are being introduced.
"Amid the tightening of sanctions, Bank of Russia has not yet created a reliable means for executing cross-border payments in different currencies, which impedes timely deposit of export revenue," Sechin said.
Sechin made the comments as Rosneft reported a profit jump amid tight cost controls. Its nine-month net income increased 76.2% year-on-year to 1.1 trillion roubles ($12.40 billion), while its January through September sales declined by 8.2% from the same period in 2022 to 6.6 trillion roubles.
Oil and gas condensate output rose by 3.9% for the period to 4 million barrels per day, the company said.
Russian oil producers have faced severe Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine. They have found ways to set up new transport and logistic sales and diverted oil sales to China and India, away from traditional sales markets in Europe.
One of Russia's most lucrative oil trade routes, to India, faces a major challenge since Western sanctions because of the drawbacks of payment in currency other than dollars, with no short-term solution in sight.
Sechin also said high Russian central bank's interest rates, which it hiked to 15% last month, "adversely affect the cost of financing for the company, its suppliers and contractors leading to higher project costs and delivery time."
($1 = 88.6955 roubles) (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin Editing by Chris Reese and Josie Kao)
