For the first time in its history "Gazprom" has suffered losses
In the first quarter 2020 the Russian gas giant "Gazprom" for the first time in its history has started to operate at a loss if to consider by the Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) as the Russian mass media informs on it. So "Interfax" has counted that the loss sum has made up 306 billion roubles. And after all, the winter period traditionally is considered the best for the Russian export monopolist, as demand for gas these months grows at maximum. A year ago the company for the first quarter got profit at a rate of almost 200 billion roubles. In the second and third quarters "Gazprom" fixed from time to time losses, but the situation was always compensated by the first quarter in which in some years it was necessary to half of annual profit. The fourth quarter which also includes one winter month, for the company was the second by its importance. The main reason of "Gazprom" facing the loss was abnormal warm winter and overfilledness of European gas storage facilities to which the company actively pumped fuel for statistics improvement for 2019. The increase in deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has also played its role. In aggregate a sharp excess of proposals over the demand has led to record depreciation of fuel. And all this occurred amidst coronavirus pandemic which has led to introduction of global quarantine measures, and as consequence, to an economic crisis and fall of the prices for energy carriers. And no one could predict it. Now experts predict for the oil and gas companies profitless work within two years. However, it is possible to assume with a high share of probability that the global economy will start to recover as soon as the vaccine for COVID-19 will be developed.
