Gazprom says that high interest rates are a concern for oil service firms

Alexander Dyukov said that the high interest rates in the oil industry could have a negative impact on firms providing support services. This raised "serious concern".

According to a recent poll, the Russian central bank will likely increase its key rate this week by 200 basis points, to 23%, due to the high inflation caused by a weaker ruble.

Dyukov told reporters that his company is strong enough to withstand high borrowing costs, and plans to increase investments in the next year.

"As far as the partner companies are concerned, such as oil services, they do not all have a margin of safety." Dyukov stated that this raises grave concerns. "We anticipate that the rate of increase will decline in the near future."

Some Russian companies have delayed or abandoned development plans due to high borrowing costs.

Rosneft is Russia's biggest oil producer. Last month, Rosneft said it could delay modernizing refineries because of high interest rates and taxation. Its nine-month profits fell 13.9% on an annual basis to 926 billion Russian roubles.

Igor Sechin is the head of Rosneft and a long-time ally of Vladimir Putin. He has criticised central bank's tight monetary policies for many years.

(source: Reuters)