MOSCOW--Russia's gas giant OAO Gazprom said Wednesday its 2014
net profit plunged 980.26 billion ruble ($19 billion) on year to
159 billion ruble due to weakness in the Russian currency and
instability in Ukraine.
Gazprom, facing tougher conditions in its biggest market Europe,
saw its sales to the continent fall to 159.4 billion cubic meters
from 174.0 bcm a year ago.
Russia's ruble plummeted last year, losing around half of its
value against the dollar, due to lower oil prices and a crisis of
confidence in the currency following Western sanctions on Russia
over the crisis in Ukraine. The weaker ruble also pushed Gazprom's
net debt higher by 48% to 1.65 trillion rubles.
The company said it suffered a 34 billion ruble loss on its
balance sheet due to a dispute with Ukraine's state energy company
Naftogaz. Gazprom has been in arguing with Naftogaz over energy
prices to the former Soviet republic following the ouster of
pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.
Gazprom shares first fell after the earnings report then swiftly
jumped higher. At 0741 GMT, Gazprom shares were up by 0.8% to 154
rubles.
Write to Andrey Ostroukh at andrey.ostroukh@wsj.com or Thomas
Grove at Thomas Grove@wsj.com
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