Economics

Rosneft Hedges Russia Sanction Threat With Record Debt Binge

Blacklisted energy firm sells over $17 billion of bonds
Proceeds of latest sale to fund investment, debt refinancing

An oil derrick stands near the Russkoye heavy crude oil field, operated by Rosneft PJSC, in the Yamalo-Nenets region of East Siberia, near Novy Urengoy, in Russia, on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016. The surprise $11 billion sale of shares in oil giant Rosneft PJSC to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and Glencore Plc caps a 2016 that's only gotten better for the Russian President Vladimir Putin as the political tide moved in his favor.Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

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By Natasha Doff and Olga Voitova

December 4, 2017 at 5:00 AM UTC

Updated on

December 4, 2017 at 11:11 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Rosneft Oil PJSC has racked up more than $17 billion worth of debt in 2017, its biggest year of borrowing on record, as the threat of new sanctions hangs over Russian debt markets.

Russia’s state-owned oil giant -- whose access to global capital markets is blocked by previous punitive measures -- issued new notes Friday that took this year’s borrowings in the bond market to 1 trillion rubles ($17 billion). That’s more than the total for the past two years combined, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.