If you look at the city of Moscow from the Kremlin, you will see - among other representative buildings - a dome-crowned palace, which serves as the headquarters of the Russian oil behemoth Rosneft.

Likewise, the company's employees have an unobstructed view of the seat of the Russian government, a major shareholder in the firm. JSC Rosneftegaz, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Russian Federation, holds half of Rosneft's shares. 

The British petroleum company BP is the second-largest shareholder, owning some 19.75 percent stake in the firm. The Anglo-Swiss commodity trader Glencore, together with Qatar's state investment fund, holds an additional 19.50 percent of the shares.

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The National Settlement Depositary (NSD), a member of the Moscow stock exchange group, owns another 10.73 percent of the shares. NSD administers Russia's state investments.

Critical for the country

Rosneft is in the business of oil exploration and production; its approximately 260,000 employees worldwide generated sales of around €75 billion ($88.5 billion) in 2015.

Together with the internationally renowned competitor Gazprom, which also has its headquarters in Moscow and had an annual revenue of €57 billion in 2014, Rosneft forms the backbone of the Russian petroleum industry.

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The firms are critically important for the nation's economy, which relies heavily on the export of natural resources, including hydrocarbons.

Active worldwide

Rosneft, of course, is not a local player. On the contrary, the company is a leading actor in oil refining in Russia and is also active in a number of countries, including Venezuela, Cuba, Canada, the US, Brazil, Norway, Italy, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, China, Vietnam and others.   

Rosneft is also present in Germany. The company claims it ranks third in the EU's economic powerhouse when it comes to the processing of petroleum products. The firm refines over 12 million tons of crude oil destined for the German market, equivalent to a market share of about 12 percent.

Always close to the powerful

Gazprom and Rosneft not only operate in the same domain, namely oil and gas, but also have a similar ownership structure. The two firms also enjoy close ties to the Russian state. Gazprom's head is Alexei Borisovich Miller. Similar to President Vladimir Putin, Miller comes from Saint Petersburg. Their relationship dates back a long time and Miller has worked closely with the Russian leader since the days when Putin served as deputy mayor of Saint Petersburg. To this day, Miller is considered to be a close confidant of the president.

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Rosneft is headed by Igor Ivanovich Sechin. He is also from Saint Petersburg and served as Putin's adviser until 2008. Until May 2012, he was deputy prime minister of Russia and sat in Putin's cabinet. Sechin has been serving as head of Rosneft since his appointment in 2004.