Russian Gazprom suffers first annual loss since 1999 due to invasion of Ukraine | Economy

Gazprom ended 2023 with a loss of 629 billion rubles, equivalent to 6.4 billion euros. A year earlier, the energy group made a profit of more than 1.2 trillion rubles.

After the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, European countries tried to reduce their dependence on Russian gas. At the same time, Russia increasingly restricted the supply of natural gas to Ukraine’s European allies, which led to record prices for the fuel in the summer of 2022.

To counter the energy crisis, EU countries agreed to keep their gas reserves well stocked. In combination with mild winters, this led to a sharp drop in gas prices.

Gas turnover fell by 40 percent last year, Gazprom reports in its annual figures. Europe has not purchased so little natural gas from Russia since the 1970s, the International Energy Agency calculated. Within the European Union, some countries still import gas directly from Russia, such as Hungary.

Russia is trying to make up for the loss of a large part of the European sales market by exporting more gas to China, which is formally keeping aloof from the war in Eastern Europe. This should lead to an 18 percent higher gas export via pipelines this year than last year.