Novatek sinks to loss on ruble depreciation

Russia’s Novatek, the operator of the Yamal LNG project reported a loss of RUB 12,416 million in the third quarter of this year.

This compares to a RUB 7,627 million profit the company posted in the corresponding period in 2014, Novatek revealed in a report on Wednesday.

According to the report, Novatek’s financial results were negatively impacted by significant non-cash foreign exchange losses as a result of the Russian rouble depreciation relative to the US dollar and Euro by 19% and 21%, respectively. These losses primarily related to the US dollar- and Euro-denominated borrowings of Yamal LNG.

The company’s third quarter and first nine months revenues, however, increased by 38.5% and 31.2%, respectively, compared to the corresponding periods of 2014.

Novatek added that the increase in revenue was due to an increase in liquids sales volumes and prices for natural gas sales.

1 RUB = 0.015446 USD

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LNG World News Staff; Image: Novatek