Russia's Gazprom Returns to Profit in 3rd Quarter

Russia's energy giant Gazprom returned to profit in the third quarter of 2016 thanks to record demand for Russian gas while prices for hydrocarbons were falling, it said Thursday.

Analysts had, however, expected the company to do  better than the 102.16 billion rubles ($1.72 billion at Thursday's rate) it booked in net profit between June and September. It made a loss in the same period in 2015.

Projections by analysts, polled by the Interfax agency, however varied significantly due to uncertainty about exchange rate trends.

Gazprom said it lost some 14.8 billion rubles ($249 million due to the exchange rate factor, compared with a gain a year earlier.

Total sales dipped by three percent to 1,257 billion rubles ($21.15 billion), also below market expectations.

Gazprom faced a situation of record demand, particularly in Europe, for its product, in the context of weak oil prices, which in turn weighed on prices of its gas delivery contracts.

Its exports to Europe and Turkey reached 179.3 billion cubic metres for the year of 2016, the company said earlier this month -- an unprecedented level that showed the European bloc is keen to buy Russia's gas despite political tensions.