Romanian gas producer Romgaz halves net profit nine months into 2013

Romanian state-owned gas production company Romgaz, whose shares recently started floating on the Bucharest and London stock exchanges, posted a net profit of some EUR 93 million in the first nine months of this year, down 55 percent year-on-year. During this period, its turnover dropped by 10 percent, to some EUR 568 million, as both domestic and imported gas quantities diminished. 'Even if the price of gas from the internal production went up compared to the previous years, the company’s turnover went down, both because of the drop in the domestic gas deliveries and of the drop in the imported quantities

,” reads Romgaz' report sent to the stock exchange.

"This drop was caused by a lower consumption demand, and by the authorities' request which no longer makes it mandatory for gas producers to mix domestic gas with imported gas." The company's total revenues were down 8 percent to some EUR 694 million, while expenses surged by 11 percent, to some EUR 522 million. editor@romania-insider.com