Gazprom's 2002 Net Profits to Exceed USD 3.2 Billion

In 2002, the consolidated net profit of the Gazprom gas company, Russia's largest, will exceed USD 3.2 billion. Over this year, Gazprom's total investment in its further development will exceed the projected figure by 8% and reach USD 4.9 billion. This is according to the company's press service quoting Alexei Miller, Gazprom's Chairman of the Board of Directors.

According to Mr. Miller, Gazprom has fully met its obligation for the year as to the volume of extracted natural gas, which amounts to 521.7 billion cubic metres and is 9.7 billion cubic metres more than a year ago. Mostly, this increase has been due to that the first gas preparation complex at the Zapolyarny gas field became fully functional. In December, the second phase of the gas field went into operation. By December 31, a total of 37 billion cubic metres of gas will have been extracted at the Zapolyarny field alone.

Mr. Miller also said that the company's receipts from the sale of assets, which were unrelated to its business, reached nearly USD 219 million in 2002, another USD 187.5 million expected in 2003.