MOSCOW, June 10 (Reuters) – The Russian energy giant reduced natural gas production by 13% to a record annual low of 359 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2023, down from 412.94 bcm in 2022, it reported. the company in its annual report on Monday.
Gazprom Group’s natural gas production fell by almost a third from 515 billion cubic meters in 2021 to the lowest level since the company’s creation in 1989, in the last days of the Soviet Union, according to the Ministry of Gas Industry.
Kremlin-owned gas giant Gazprom posted a net loss of 629 billion rubles ($7 billion) in 2023, its first annual loss since 1999, amid a contraction in gas trade with Europe, once its main sales market.
The Gazprom Group combines the company’s gas, oil and electric power businesses.
The firm’s oil and gas production in Russia increased 6.6% last year to 72.38 million metric tons.
Gazprom, unlike the oil companies, has not managed to diversify its sales outside Europe after a serious crisis in relations with the West due to the conflict in Ukraine.
It has held arduous talks with China to increase its gas sales. However, the negotiations have not been fruitful due to various issues, mainly prices.
Instead, Gazprom has turned to the low-cost domestic market, as well as neighboring former Soviet countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, which analysts say could replace high-cost European markets.
(Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva; Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Edited in Spanish by Manuel Farías)
