Gazprom Sees Domestic Debt for Gas Rise by 19.8%

Russian major Gazprom has revealed that overdue payments from its domestic customers rose by almost 20% in 2015. 

Announcing the increase on its website on March 22, Gazprom said that though it had fulfilled and continues to fulfil its obligations to domestic customers, the outstanding debt owed to the company rose by 19.8% last year, from 127bn rubles (€1.67bn) in 2014 to 152.1bn rubles (€2bn) in 2015. 

Gazprom labelled the consumer debt "an urgent problem of the Russian gas market."

The majority of the debt owed – over 80% – came from just one of Russia's nine federal districts, Gazprom said: the North Caucasian Federal District. 

To address the debt, Gazprom said it had taken the necessary measures under Russian law to recoup the debts. That included limiting gas supply to a number of entities and initiating court actions to recover outstanding payments. 

In 2015, the company filed lawsuits in the amount of 99.2bn rubles, an increase of 12.2bn rubles on the same kind of lawsuits in 2014. To date, the firm has been awarded 73bn rubles in rulings as a result of the 2015 cases. The proceedings for the remaining debts are still ongoing. 

Erica Mills