OREANDA-NEWS. Moody's international rating agency included Gazprom and Rosneft among the largest non-financial companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in terms of liquidity by the end of 2018. The Russian gas monopoly took seventh place in the ranking (€ 21.1 billion), and Rosneft took ninth (€ 17.8 billion), the report says. Both companies increased this figure compared to 2017, while Rosneft managed to almost double it, Moody's analysts write.

Since the agency evaluated only those companies that it covers, Surgutneftegas was not taken into account when compiling the rating, Richard Moravec, one of the authors of the report, told the Russian media through a representative. From the report of Surgut it follows that the liquid assets of the company in 2018 reached 3.06 trillion rubles (€ 41.8 billion at the Central Bank rate at the end of the year). Thus, the company could take the second place in the Moody's rating, losing only to the world's largest oil producer - Saudi Aramco from Saudi Arabia, which the agency began rating only this year.

In total, Moody`s rating participants from Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2018 increased their liquidity reserves by 15%, to € 1.1 trillion. In addition to Saudi and Russian companies, the top ten included German automakers Volkswagen and Daimler, French Electricite de France and Total, Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, British BP and Italian Eni. Seven of these companies increased their liquidity reserves over the year.

Volkswagen showed the greatest growth: its cash increased by € 10 billion, since a year earlier the company paid multibillion-dollar fines due to the so-called diesel scandal disclosed in the United States. She equipped the cars sold in Europe and the USA with software, which during the tests ten times lower the amount of harmful emissions. In 2018, she no longer had such large expenses.