MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom says its profits for the first nine months of last year fell more than one-third compared with a year earlier.
A company statementFeb. 1says net profit for the January-September period was 479.289 billion rubles ($15.818 billion), compared with 751.676 billion rubles for the same nine months in 2008.
The figures reflect an overall drop in sales of about 7 percent and an increase in operating expenses of some 16 percent.
Gazprom shares were down about 0.7 percent in early trading on Moscow’s MICEX exchange.
