Page 127 - RusRPTOct23

9.2 Major corporate news 9.2.1 Oil & gas corporate news
● Gazprom
Gazprom lost money in the first half of this year for the second time ever.
gas business turned out to be unprofitable in the first half of the year. This situation arose only twice - at the height of the pandemic in the first half of 2020, and before that - in 1998. The reason is the reduction in gas exports to Europe against the backdrop of lower export prices and higher taxes. As gas prices continue to fall in Europe, the situation may worsen, analysts expect.
The net loss of the parent company under RAS for six months amounted to 255bn rubles. According to IFRS, the Gazprom group received 296bn rubles of profit, but in fact this figure was provided exclusively by the oil business - Gazprom Neft, which earned 304bn rubles of profit in the first half of the year.
A similar situation is observed with revenue: the revenue of all companies of the group, except for the parent company - the conditional "non-gas business", practically did not change, declining in the first half of the year by only 2.1%, to 2.4 trillion rubles, and the revenue of Gazprom itself » fell by 65%, to 2.74 trillion rubles, including revenue directly from the sale of gas fell 2.1 times, to 1.7 trillion rubles.
The financial results of Gazprom are similar to the first half of the pandemic 2020, Kommersant writes. Then the group's loss under RAS was even a little more - 277bn rubles. But there is a significant difference: in 2020, world hydrocarbon prices were at the lowest level in the last 20 years - Brent was trading at $40 per barrel, and gas cost around $124 per thousand cubic meters. This year, oil and gas prices are several times higher: Brent is about $80, and gas in Europe is traded at around $510 per thousand cubic meters.
Oleg Vedernikov, the Head of the Department of Development of Oil Refining and Petrochemicals at Gazprom Neft, previously outlined the company's ambitious plans to achieve a record-breaking oil refining volume of 41mn metric tonnes in Russia for 2022. This endeavor involves a comprehensive modernization effort targeting the Omsk and Moscow refineries. He reaffirmed the company's forecast, indicating that they are on track to surpass the 2021 processing volume of approximately 40mn metric tonnes, representing an impressive y/y growth of 2.5%. Furthermore, Gazprom Neft has outlined its intentions to sustain the record-breaking level of refining achieved in 2022 throughout the year 2023. Vedernikov expressed confidence in this goal, taking into account planned maintenance activities. Notably, the company's advanced oil refining complex will play a pivotal role in increasing
127 RUSSIA Country Report October 2023 www.intellinews.com