Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil producer, is preparing a plan to limit the impact of U.S.-led sanctions as output drops for second straight quarter.

“Together with our partners—the world’s leading oil companies—we are working on a plan to minimize the consequences of including Rosneft on the sanction lists,” CEO Igor Sechin said in a statement announcing second-quarter earnings.

Rosneft is among those companies targeted by sanctions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Even as borrowing options remain limited, the state-controlled company is seeking to cut debt and restore production.

Decreasing net debt, which fell 5.7% to 1.495 trillion rubles (US$42.5 billion) in the quarter, shows progress, said Alexander Kornilov, a Moscow-based oil and gas analyst at Alfa Bank.

“This is positive, especially in the context of the most recent debt-related U.S. sanctions rendering Rosneft’s deleveraging pace quite a sensitive issue,” Kornilov said in an e-mail.

Rosneft became the world’s biggest traded oil company by output after closing a $55 billion deal for TNK-BP in March last year. The latest earnings results are the first time company performance, including TNK-BP, can be compared year-on-year.

Second-quarter profit surged almost eightfold, beating estimates, to 171 billion rubles (US$4.87 billion) in the three months to June 30.

Oil output declined 1.4% from the previous quarter to 4.13 MMbbl/d, after the company failed to reach an agreement with oilfield-services provider Eurasia Drilling, leading it to remove rigs. Oil and gas output combined fell 0.9% to 5 MMboe/d from the first quarter.