Expensive oil boosts Russian energy giant Rosneft's profit 13% to $7 billion in the first half of the year despite war-time sanctions

• Rosneft said net income rose 13% in the first half of the year to around $7.2 billion.
• Despite Western sanctions, Russia's largest state-run oil firm continues to increase in output.

Rosneft Oil, Russia's largest state-run oil firm, reported that profits climbed 13% in the first half of the year to about 432 billion rubles, or roughly $7.2 billion.

Expensive global crude prices allowed the company to rake in more net income than the prior year despite sanctions from Western nations aimed at squeezing Moscow's ability to fund its war in Ukraine.

"Rosneft was under an unprecedented pressure of adverse external factors and unlawful sanctions," Igor Sechin, Rosneft chief executive officer, said in a statement, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Early on after the February invasion, Russia's oil industry stumbled. Then, however, big buyers like China and India stepped in to fill the gap of Western nations that stopped buying crude from Moscow.

Still, moving forward, Rosneft and the broader energy sector face a looming price cap on Russian oil. Finance ministers from G7 nations have said they intend to ban the insurance and funding of shipments of the sanctioned fuel, unless buyers agree to the price cap.

The US-led initiative is meant to push buyers to comply with the price cap or else face the potential of not being able to ship the oil.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency forecasted that Russian oil output will fall by 1.9 barrels a day after the new European Union sanctions begin in December.

"An additional 1 mb/d of products and 1.4 mb/d of crude will have to find new homes," the IEA said in its Wednesday report. "An EU ban on maritime services may force further reallocations from third countries not agreeing to the proposed G7 price cap."