Russian natural gas giant Gazprom plunged to a loss of 629 billion roubles (£5.5bn) last year as its sales to Europe more than halved following Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
The energy giant’s shares in Moscow were down around 3.3pc after revealing the downturn, which was far steeper than the 447 billion rouble (£3.9bn) losses predicted by analysts, according to Interfax news agency.
It had made a profit of 1.2 trillion roubles (£10.4bn) in 2022.
Largely owned by the Kremlin, Moscow-based Gazprom is Russia’s largest oil and gas company.
A number of the company’s top executives have been sanctioned by the UK government since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including chief executive Alexei Miller.
Russia’s gas exports to Europe, once its primary export market, have fallen sharply, making Gazprom the most tangible victim of Western sanctions against Putin’s regime.
The company said it sustained a net loss of 364bn roubles from sales in 2023, in contrast to a profit of 1.9 trillion roubles in 2022.
Its total revenue fell to 8.5 trillion roubles last year from 11.7 trillion in 2022.
Gazprom has not published its own export statistics since the start of 2023.
The gas producer has been struggling to persuade China to sign a new deal for an additional, 1,700-mile pipeline to boost those exports, although Mr Putin suggested it would be the “deal of the century”.
Confirmed by Russian media.
For the first time in a quarter of a century Gazprom is losing money. For decades this was the huge cash cow of the 🇷🇺 state. No longer. https://t.co/w30iT6glVs
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) May 2, 2024
🇷🇺 – Russian gas giant Gazprom has just reported first net loss since 1999
• Gazprom posted US$6.84bn loss in 2023 as sanctions drastically curb sales to Europe
• Gazprom's losses will put Russian budget under (even) more pressure amid rising military spending pic.twitter.com/h9HRdmmdna— Agathe Demarais (@AgatheDemarais) May 2, 2024
AC