A great year for Gazprom
The Russian giant increases production, boosts reserves and exports and gets its best financial results ever.
Russia´s biggest company in 2011 made net profits of almost $40 billion, the biggest earning of the company ever and up 25 percent from 2010.
The gas monopolist´s total revenues from gas sales amounted to $150 billion, up 27 percent from 2010, a press release informs.
The year of 2011 was successful in almost all respects for Gazprom. Gas production increased with 4,6 percent to 513,2 billion cubic meters. Consumption surged on the Russian domestic market and exports soared to 150 billion cubic meters (8,2%) to the EU and the “far abroad”.
In addition, the company boosted its reserves base with as much as 686,4 billion cubic meters of new gas resources. That is 33,8 percent more than the company produced the same year. About half of the new reserves was discoved in the Russian Far East, including on the Sakhalin shelf.
Gazprom´s only major misfortune in 2011 was losses on foreign currency loans in the last part of the year following the lower exchange rates on the rouble. According to newspaper Vedomosti the total losses from the currency loans might amount to 100 billion RUB ($2,5 billion).
