Gazprom PJSC, the world’s biggest natural gas producer, said first-quarter profit rose 71 percent as a weaker ruble countered lower prices for the fuel and falling sales volumes.
Net income climbed to 382 billion rubles ($5.9 billion) from 223 billion rubles a year earlier, the Moscow-based company said Monday in a statement. That exceeded analysts’ average 353 billion-ruble estimate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 5.7 percent to 1.65 trillion rubles.
Gazprom, Russia’s biggest company by market value, rose even as oil’s slump weighs on export prices for its gas, which are linked to crude under most contracts. The company’s average June export price was the lowest since 2007, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Russian customs data. Gazprom may lower its production to a record this year as demand slows in Russia and Ukraine, the government said in July.
Gazprom plans to pay dividends on 2015 profit no lower than last year’s level even as its foreign-currency sales slip to the lowest in a decade, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Andrey Kruglov said in June. The company benefits from a weaker ruble because most of its costs are in the Russian currency, while much of its revenue is in dollars and euros.
The ruble averaged 62.16 per dollar in the quarter, compared with 34.95 a year earlier, according to the Bank of Russia.
Earlier this month it was announced one of Gazprom’s fields had been hit by US sanctions.
The move affects the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field which is located in the Sea of Okhotsk of the Siberian coast.