Russian gas giant Gazprom saw its net profit drop more than 80 percent in the second quarter of this year.
Moscow-based Gazprom posted a profit of 47.9 billion roubles ($817 million) in the second quarter as compared to 244.8 billion roubles in the same quarter the year before.
The company said that it had suffered a net foreign exchange loss of 140.5 billion rubles during the period, compared with a forex gain of 152 billion roubles in 2016.
Net debt increased by 19 percent in the first six months of the year, to stand at 2.29 trillion roubles as of June 30.
Gazprom’s gas sales outside of the ex-Soviet Union, mainly to the European Union, rose to 119.1 billion cubic metres (bcm) in the first half of the year from 109.4 bcm in the same period a year ago.
But the average price of those deliveries, including customs fee, fell to 11,117 roubles per 1,000 cubic metres in the first six months of the year due to the rouble appreciation, the company 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.