Russian companies doubled their revenues to $15 trillion last year because the energy market did so well — but that doesn't mean they're reaping massive profits

• Russian companies raked in a record $15 trillion in revenue in 2022, according to the federal tax department.
• That's nearly double the total revenue they clocked in 2021.

Russian companies raked in record revenue levels last year, even among sweeping sanctions over the Ukraine war.

The country's companies made over 1.3 quadrillion rubles, or $15 trillion, in revenue last year, according to data from the country's federal tax service department.

That's nearly double the 655 trillion rubles Russian companies made in 2021, per the tax service department's statistics.

The robust sales came from "the growth of mainly oil and gas companies' export revenues and the recovery of consumer demand for goods, works and services," Russia's tax service announced, per RBC, a privately owned business news outlet, which first reported the news on Tuesday.

Russia's revenue doubled year over year, but profit growth was moderate

Despite the historic revenue, Russian companies posted more modest profit growth of about 6% from a year ago — far lower than the average inflation rate of nearly 14%, per RBC. The moderate profit growth is due to rising costs as companies navigate tough sanctions, analysts told RBC.

The record revenues at Russian firms in 2022 came on the back of concerns about energy supply. Russia is a major energy exporter, and its invasion of Ukraine led to fears that supplies would be disrupted by the war.

Those market concerns sent global energy prices up, with natural-gas prices soaring to multi-year highs — which helped Russian oil and gas companies. In particular, Russian energy giant Gazprom posted record profits in the first half of 2022, prompting Moscow to impose windfall taxes on the company.

Now, energy prices have fallen to prewar levels because of recession fears. Russia's energy revenues have also been hit heavily by restrictions against its exports, particularly after the European Union — a major customer of Russian energy — banned Russian crude oil starting December 5.

In the first quarter of 2023, Russia posted a deficit of almost 2.4 trillion rubles — sharply reversing a surplus of more than 1 trillion rubles in the first quarter of 2022. In the same quarter, the country posted a 45% drop in energy revenues to 1.64 trillion rubles, per data released by Russia's finance ministry on April 7.

Now, Russia's turning to other companies for taxes.

Last week, Russia approved a draft bill to slap a one-off windfall tax of up to 10% on large Russian companies, according to an announcement the country's finance ministry made on Tuesday. It will be targeting companies that have made more than 1 billion rubles, or $11.9 million, in annual profits since 2021.

This levy could raise about 300 billion rubles, or $3.6 billion, in taxes collectively, Andrei Belousov, the first deputy prime minister, said in an interview with RBC TV, per Interfax.