MOSCOW, May 28 (RIA Novosti) -- Russia's state-controlled oil producer Rosneft said on Thursday its US GAAP net profit in the first quarter of 2009 was down 19.7% year-on-year to $2.1 billion.

It said sales in the reporting period had fallen 49.5% to $8.26 billion.

At the same time, the company's net profit was up almost 170% compared with the fourth quarter of 2008.

Rosneft's operating costs in January through March were down 19.6% to 820 million rubles, while EBITDA fell 50.7% to $2.31 billion.

Its net debt fell 9.6% to $19.23 billion.

Crude production grew 9% year-on-year in 2008 to more than 110.1 million metric tons (807 million barrels) of oil. The company expects to produce 112.3 million metric tons (823 million barrels) of oil in 2009.