FX.co ★ Gazprom sells gas at record pace

Alexey Miller, Gazprom CEO, proudly reports on new records. The Russian business is like a sporting competition: companies operate on “the more the better principle”. However, it is very strange to hear such big words in connection with the financial data. Alexey Miller announced that in 2016 Gazprom set a new record in the amount of gas delivered to foreign countries: for the first time in the company's history, Gazprom exported 180 billion cubic meters of gas. In other words, amid the economic crisis and growing shortage of the budget money, Russia increases export of natural resources at a record pace. Surprisingly, Gazprom CEO declares it proudly. The Russian nationals are well aware that the domestic economy depends mainly on commodity exports. One might think that since foreign buyers could afford such huge amount of gas, the money will flow into the Russian coffers at a record pace as well. But it turned out, these two facts are not related. During the first six months of 2016, Gazprom net profit fell nearly 10 percent compared to the same period of 2015. In the second half of 2016, Gazprom spending was $5.5 billion more than the gained profits. Sales profit decreased by 2.8 times, while export earnings for this record volume of supply fell to a twelve-year minimum. Basically, our foreign partners took advantage of the situation and managed to buy more gas for less money.