Gazprom, Russia’s largest gas producer, incurred a loss of 53 billion roubles ($492.5 million) in the third quarter of 2024 due to an expected one-off rise of 20% in the profit tax rate expected in 2025, the company said.

The company madea profit of 56.4 billion roubles ($529 million) in the same period of 2023.

Gazpromsaid that its nine-month net income rose to 990 billion roubles from 353 billion roubles in the same period of 2023 however thanks to an increase in gas prices and supplies as well as “successful” oil sales and Sakhalin Energy’s businesses.

Gazprom acquired a 27.5% stake, formerly owned by Shell SHEL.L in Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Sakhalin Energy for around $1 billion in March.

The company said the nine-month earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased by 23% year-on-year to 2.14 trillion roubles, one of the highest in the company’s history.

It said its basis for a dividend payout as of the end of September reached 842 billion roubles. Gazprom did not pay dividends on 2023 results after incurring its first annual loss since 1999.

State-ownedGazprom has seen its gas sales to Europe, once the main source of revenue, plummeting due to a political rift with the West over the war in Ukraine which started in February 2022.

Its sales are expected to decline further as a 5-year deal with Ukraine for Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine expires on Dec. 31. Kyiv has said it will not enter into talks with Moscow about the extension of the agreement.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Editing by Andrew Osborn)