“Gazprom will retain its stable financial status even if the prices of oil drop further thanks to the prevalence of revenue currency in the structure and low production cost that allows the corporation to remain competitive on key markets, and lower prices for gas stimulates additional demand,” Andrei Kruglov said in an interview for the company’s Gazprom magazine.
“Over the next few years we plan to follow a conservative policy in loan management, that is to pay more than we borrow and gradually ease the loan load,” Kruglov added.
He said the company had attracted over $7 billion in leverage this year, including from European and US lenders, highlighting that anti-Russia sanctions had not been enforced against the Gazprom headquarters.
The oversupply of oil reserves and stable demand over the past two years has driven global prices to lows not seen since the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The Brent benchmark traded at $37.9 per barrel as of early Friday.
Russia's long-term oil market strategy for global energy security, as announced by Energy Minister Alexander Novak this summer, is to maintain oil production at 10.5 million barrels a day.
