Gazprom posts lower profit in Q1

Russian gas giant Gazprom posted on Wednesday a drop of 5.1% in its first-quarter net profit as operating expenses rose.

Gazprom’s net profit of 362.3 billion roubles ($5.6 billion) in the first quarter dropped from 382.1 billion roubles in the corresponding period a year before.

The Russian company’s revenue rose 5.4 percent to 1.74 trillion roubles.

According to Gazrpom, revenues grew on higher gas sales to Europe and other countries that rose to 58.1 billion cubic metres (bcm) in the first quarter as compared to 39.1 bcm in the first quarter of 2015.

Operating expenses for the quarter rose 24% to 1.45 trillion rubles. Gazprom attributed this rise to increased expenses for gas relating to an asset-swap agreement between Gazprom and Wintershall, a unit of BASF.

LNG World News Staff