Gazprom is one of the largest investors for extraction of natural gas in the Arctic. Fields are under development on the Yamal Peninsula, by Gazprom named “Yamal megaprojects” counting for some 90 percent of Russia’s extraction of natural gas.
Gazprom Neft is also so far the only operator of offshore oil in the European Arctic, with production start last year at the Prirazlomnoye field in the Pechora Sea.
The company’s income is crucial for Russia’s economy.
Last summer, Russia closed the gas-pipeline to Ukraine in dispute over back-payment of debt. The pipeline was not opened again before December.
Falling oil prices lower what Gazprom can charge for gas. The company presented its first nine months of 2014 profit statement on Thursday. “Profit to the equity holders for the first nine months 2014 is 35 percent less than the same period of 2013,” Gazprom writes in the statement.
The results are getting way worse for the last part of the period, after the ruble started to slide and global oil prices made a deep-dive.
Wall Street Journal reports that the fall in third-quarter profit is 62 percent, down from 276 billion rubles to 105.7 billion rubles ($1.56 billion).
