The findings highlight Gazprom’s dramatic decline since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Kremlin-owned gas giant Gazprom said it would post a net loss of 629 billion rubles ($6.9 billion) in 2023, its first annual loss in more than 20 years, as gas trade with Europe, once its main market, declined.
The results released Thursday underscore the dramatic decline of Gazprom, which has been one of Russia’s most powerful companies since the collapse of the Soviet Union and was often used as leverage to resolve disputes with its neighbors such as Ukraine and Moldova.
Analysts had expected a net profit of 447 billion rubles ($4.81 billion), according to the Interfax news agency.
It was Gazprom’s first annual loss since the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Alexei Miller, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, took over the company in 2001, according to Reuters analysis.
Gazprom’s loss in 2023 was followed by a net profit of 1.2 trillion rubles (12.9 billion) in 2022.
The company, now based in St. Petersburg, made heavy losses in the late 1990s after the 1998 financial crisis caused it to accumulate foreign currency debt denominated in rubles.
Gazprom shares in Moscow fell about 3.3 percent at 13:07 GMT.
Russia’s gas exports to Europe, once its main export market, have collapsed due to the political fallout from the invasion of Ukraine, while Gazprom, which has a monopoly on supplying gas abroad, has been the most tangible victim of Western sanctions.
Gazprom is also participating in a comprehensive program to supply natural gas to local households.
On Thursday it said the company made a net loss of 364 billion rubles ($3.92 billion) on sales in 2023, versus a profit of 1.9 trillion rubles ($20.4 billion) in 2022.
Total revenue fell last year to 8.5 trillion rubles ($91.5 billion) from 11.7 trillion rubles ($126 billion) in 2022.
Core earnings, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), fell to 618.38 billion rubles ($6.66 billion) last year from 2.79 trillion rubles ($30 billion), according to Reuters calculations Year 2022.
“Full-year EBITDA of $7.2 billion was the worst in 22 years since the company reported $7.6 billion in 2002,” said Ronald Smith of Moscow-based brokerage BCS Global Markets.
Gazprom’s natural gas supplies to Europe fell 55.6 percent to 28.3 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2023, according to Reuters calculations.
Gazprom has no longer published its own export statistics since the beginning of 2023.