Moscow: Russia’s gas giant Gazprom on Thursday said its third quarter profits plunged 61 per cent as supplies were suspended to Ukraine, one of its main customers.
The group’s profits between July and September reached 105.7 billion roubles ($1.5 billion) but revenues in that quarter were down 6 per cent year-on-year to 1.13 trillion roubles ($16.5 billion).
Analysts were expecting the group’s profits to drop significantly due to its dispute with Ukraine.
Kiev has refused to accept a price rise imposed after its pro-Western authorities came to power a year ago.
As Kiev’s debts built up, Gazprom cut supplies in June and only switched them back on in autumn, with reduced volumes of gas that Ukraine’s state company Naftogaz has to pay for in advance.
In the first nine months of 2014, Gazprom’s net profits fell by 35 per cent to 556.2 billion roubles ($8.14 billion). Its revenues reached 4 trillion roubles ($58 billion), up 6 per cent from the same period a year ago.
The profits were hit by factors including an increase in impairment provisions made over Naftogaz’s debts, the group said in a statement.
Gas sales fell 2 per cent year-on-year between January and September to 2.084 trillion roubles ($30.5 billion), with those to Europe remaining fairly stable.
