Gazprom 3Q Net Doubles on Weaker Ruble

Russian gas giant OAO Gazprom said Thursday that third-quarter net profit doubled from a year earlier on the back of a forex gain as the Russian ruble weakened against the U.S. dollar, reports Dow Jones.

State-controlled Gazprom--the world's biggest producer of natural gas--said net profit attributable to shareholders totaled 305.1 billion rubles ($10.0 billion) in the three months to Sept. 30 compared with RUB152.0 billion a year earlier.

A Dow Jones survey of six analysts had forecast net profit would rise 99% to 302 billion rubles.

The company's revenue rose 18% to RUB1.12 trillion, above analysts' forecasts of RUB1.04 trillion.

Gazprom reported no additional rebates to European customers in the third quarter.

The figure for retroactive payments following price adjustments totalled 133.2 billion rubles for the first nine months of the year, the same figure given for the first half of the year.

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