Rosneft (ROSN.MM), Russia’s largest oil firm, pledged $180 million for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics on Tuesday, becoming the games’ third sponsor after the government scaled back spending on the event by 15 percent.
Rosneft will also build over 150 new gasoline stations ahead of the games, half of which will be spread across parts of Russia serving major highways.
Sergei Bogdanchikov, the head of the indebted state-controlled company, told a briefing the firm’s support would “increase the profitability of our company.”
Last month state-controlled long-distance telephone company Rostelecom and MegaFon, the country’s third biggest mobile phone operator, pledged $260 million in sponsorship, plus a further $200 million to develop infrastructure in the region.
Rosneft’s pledge comes at a time when Russian natural resource firms are cash-strapped and cutting back production in response to the sharp drop in energy and commodity prices, Russia’s star assets.
“Even in a difficult economic situation, Russian businesses are not neglecting their social responsibility,” the head of Sochi 2014’s organising committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, said in a statement.
Russia has pledged to spend $12 billion on developing the Olympics in Sochi, a resort on its Black Sea coast.
Winning the right to host the games is viewed by many as one of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s major achievements during his eight years as president.
But last week the games’ organiser, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, said the budget for the games’ building venues would be cut by 15 percent as the country braces for its worst economic outlook in a decade.
Kozak said many of the cuts were due to a fall in the prices of construction materials amid the financial crisis.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) responded by saying the 16-day event’s organisational budget — the cost earmarked for staging the games — would not be revised.
The Sochi games have met with various concerns since the seaside resort was chosen as the site for the Olympics, including fears it has a lack of snow and is too close to ex-Soviet Georgia, where Russia fought a war last August.
source: uk.reuters.com
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