MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian gas giant Gazprom, squeezed by plunging sales abroad as the Ukraine conflict prompts European buyers to turn away, is seeking to raise regulated prices at home to fund investment, Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.
Gazprom incurred losses of almost $7 billion in 2023, its first annual loss in more than 20 years, amid dwindling gas trade with Europe, once its main sales market.
The company is now focused on boosting gas exports to Asia, especially to China, as a part of Moscow’s pivot to the East.
President Vladimir Putin announced last week that Gazprom planned to supply Iran with up to 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year, on par with the damaged Nord Stream 1 pipeline capacity.
At home, Russia’s domestic gas prices are regulated by the government.
“The current level of regulated wholesale gas prices does not ensure the formation of financial resources in amounts sufficient to make the necessary capital investments in the maintenance and development of gas infrastructure in the interests of Russian consumers,” Interfax cited Alexei Sakharov, a Gazprom senior manager, as saying.
Speaking at a parliamentary panel of experts, he said Gazprom also wanted to retain its monopoly rights over Russian gas exported via pipeline.
“Despite the decline in gas export volumes to Europe… this point remains relevant in connection with the redirection of Russian gas export flows to the East and countries of the global South,” Sakharov was quoted as saying.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Oksana Kobzeva; Editing by Ros Russell)
