MOSCOW, March 6 (Reuters) - Russia’s Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of gas producer Gazprom, has asked the government for 198 billion roubles ($3.3 billion) in financial aid, the daily Kommersant reported on Friday.

Ever since Moscow was hit by sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, Russian companies have struggled to raise financing because Western markets are largely closed to them.

Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil producer, initially asked the government for more than 1 trillion roubles, but the figure was later revised down to 300 billion.

Gazprom Neft declined to comment on the Kommersant story.

Kommersant said the company had handed a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich listing projects for which it needs financing, but it has not yet filed an official request.