Sanctioned Russian state shipowner Sovcomflot (SCF Group) has revealed a massive profit for 2023 as Western measures against the country’s oil exports boosted tanker rates.
Accounts posted to the Russian-language section of the crude carrier and LNG vessel player’s website showed net earnings of $942m last year.
This was up from $385.2m in 2022, the owner said in a statement.
However, no separate results for 2022 appear to have been posted on the website for last year.
Financial statements resumed for the six months to 30 June 2023.
Net earnings in 2021 dropped to $35.8m from $267.1m in 2020 in a difficult year for the conventional tanker market.
In 2019, Moscow-listed Sovcomflot made $225.4m in profit, against a loss of $45.6m in 2018.
Revenue last year was $2.3bn, up from $1.9bn in 2022 and $1.54bn in 2021.
Operating expenses were $371m, while the owner made a profit from vessel operations of $1.7bn.
Depreciation hit $412m, and Sovcomflot banked a $2.4m gain from an asset sale.
The shipping company said sanctions restrictions led to a “reorientation of trade flows” and changes in supply chains.
Payments in US dollars and euros were refused in favour of Chinese yuan and Russian rubles, the company added.
The European Union’s Russian oil embargo was also addressed, as was the G7 price cap.
Sovcomflot said these measures caused a change in routes and a spike in tanker demand.
As a consequence, there was an increase in the market value of ships and freight rates, which continued to remain at a high level throughout 2023, the owner added.
The accounts show vessels in operation valued at $5bn, with ships under construction assessed at $221m.
The group concentrated on transporting crude, gas and petroleum products for Russian manufacturing companies that were forced to redirect their export flows to other sales markets, the company said.
Vessel occupancy increased, but sanctions against the company and some of its individual tankers have led to “the emergence of additional operational restrictions in the group’s activities”.
“Management is taking the necessary steps to overcome difficulties associated with sanctions,” the owner added.
Last week, Sovcomflot chief executive Igor Tonkovidov said 8% of the tanker fleet now carrying Russian oil falls under Western sanctions.
In rare public comments, the boss admitted the measures have hit the company’s operations, “limiting our geography and commercial prospects”, according to Reuters.
Sovcomflot had 125 vessels including 102 tankers and 12 gas carriers, according to its last quarterly results published in September 2021. Clarksons currently lists the fleet comprising 114 vessels.
Total assets stood at $7bn at the end of the year, with liabilities at a similar level.
Sovcomflot is 82.81% owned by the Russian state.
