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* Global oil and gas sector recovering from pandemic
* Rosneft's 2021 net profit at 883 bln rbls, below some
forecasts
* Shares down in early trade
(Adds detail, background, updates shares)
By Vladimir Soldatkin and Olesya Astakhova
MOSCOW, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Russian energy giant Rosneft's
net income jumped to a record 883 billion roubles
($11.7 billion) last year as demand recovered from pandemic-hit
2020, but the rebound was smaller than expected and sent its
share price lower early on Friday.
The sixfold earnings increase was below forecasts of more
than 1 trillion roubles from some analysts, sending Rosneft
shares down 1.3% to 562.50 roubles in early Moscow trade.
However, the shares were still outperforming the broader Russian
stock market, which is beset by wider geopolitical concerns.
Global energy companies' profits have rebounded from a sharp
decline in 2020, when planes were grounded and cars remained off
the roads to observe global lockdowns aimed at containing the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Oil and natural gas prices also reached multi-year highs
last year as demand recovered.
Rosneft, in which BP owns a 19.75% stake, said that
net income had recovered after an 80% fall in 2020. It revised
its 2020 tally to 132 billion roubles from an initially reported
147 billion.
BP this week reported that it rebounded to an annual profit
of $12.85 billion after a large loss in 2020.
Analysts said they would want to hear an update on Rosneft's
giant Vostok oil project, which is expected to start shipping
oil via the Northern Sea route in the Arctic in 2024.
The company, which accounts for about 40% of Russia's oil
production, said its average oil and gas condensate output rose
by 2.3% to 3.91 million barrels per day last year.
($1 = 75.2441 roubles)
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Olesya Astakhova and Maria
Kiselyova
Editing by David Goodman and Jason Neely)
