Gazprom’s profit climbs in Q1 on higher European volumes

Russian gas giant Gazprom saw its net profit rising more than 11 percent in the first quarter of this year as pipeline exports to Europe surged.

Moscow-based Gazprom posted a profit of 372 billion roubles ($5.93 billion) in the first quarter as compared to 333 billion roubles in the same quarter the year before.

This is the highest quarterly profit for Gazprom in three years.

Gazprom said its revenues from gas sales to Europe rose by 28 percent in the quarter under review as prices increased by 17 percent.

The Russian company is Europe’s largest supplier of natural gas and generates more than a half of its revenue from selling gas to Europe.