Bonuses of Rosneft’s top managers have increased 100 times since 2016

Rosneft’s management received bonuses of 1.5 billion rubles (approximately $25,884,210) in the first quarter of 2017, reported newspaper Vedomosti, citing the company’s statements. This is over hundred times more than the amount awarded in the first quarter of 2016, when top managers received only 14 million rubles (today approximately $241,787) in bonuses.

In an interview with Vedomosti, Rosneft representatives said that the payment of such generous bonuses in the first quarter could be attributed to a number of successful deals, including the purchase of Bashneft from the state and the sale of a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft to various investors. It is unknown who exactly will receive bonuses and in what specific amounts.

On average, the total amount of bonuses awarded to Rosneft’s board by the end of any given year is about 3 billion rubles (today approximately $51,887,610).

Rosneft bought Bashneft in October 2016. Shortly before that, Russia’s Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes. According to one version, for a long time he opposed the privatization of Bashkir oil company Bashneft, but then agreed upon allegedly receiving a bribe. In January 2017, Reuters reported that Rosneft head Igor Sechin had personally been present when Ulyukayev received his bribe.

Rosneft began to disclose the value of its total payments to top managers in 2014. Then, the amount of bonuses had amounted to 2.8 billion rubles (today approximately $48,428,436).