Russian energy giant Gazprom reported an 8 percent lower net profit in the first quarter of this year.
Moscow-based Gazprom posted a profit of 333.45 billion roubles ($5.89 billion) in the first quarter as compared to 362.31 billion roubles in the same quarter the year before.
Gazprom’s revenue rose to 1.8 trillion roubles as compared to 1.7 trillion roubles in the first quarter last year.
At the same time, the company said its net debt increased 4.4 percent to 2 trillion roubles. The company reduced its net debt by 7 percent in 2016 to 1.93 trillion roubles.
Gazprom’s net sales of natural gas to Europe and Turkey dropped by 10 percent to $593.88 billion roubles.
This was mainly driven by the decrease in average prices of rouble. This was partially compensated by the increase in volumes of gas sold by 13 percent to 7.5 bcm, Gazprom said.
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.