Gazprom reports profit drop of one-third for Jan-Sept amid sharp decline in sales

Gazprom profit down one-third in Jan-Sept period

MOSCOW — Russia’s natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom said Monday its profit for the first nine months of last year fell more than one-third compared with a year earlier.

A company statement said net profit for the January-September period was 479.289 billion rubles ($15.818 billion), compared with 751.676 billion rubles for the same nine months in 2008.

The figures reflect an overall drop in sales of about 7 percent and an increase in operating expenses of some 16 percent. The company said the main reason for increased operating expenses was higher costs for gas it purchases from Central Asia.

Gazprom is the world’s largest natural gas producer and Russia’s largest company. Its shares were down by more than 1 percent in the first hour of trading on Moscow’s exchanges.

By volume, sales were down overall by 17 percent to 343.3 billion cubic meters, the company said. That included a drop by volume of 11 percent in the domestic market, 50 percent in other former Soviet republics, and 11 percent in Europe and other countries.

Europe buys about one-third of its total gas needs from Russia, according to Gazprom.