Rosneft Increases Gas Production, Gazprom Reduces 2015 Forecasts

Russian energy companies are likely to pay the price of current market conditions in a moment of internal power rebalancing, as Gazprom reported a likely reduction in natural gas output for the year, while Rosneft revealed that its gas production for the first nine months of the year increased by 12.3% with respect to the same period in 2014.

Rosneft, a company led by Igor Sechin, said that in the first nine months of 2015 it produced 45.92 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas, increased from 40.87 bcm in the same period last year.

"The growth of gas production was mainly provided by commissioning of gas wells in Tarasovskoe field of Purneftegaz in H2 2014 and increased production at Vankor field, where pipeline Vankor–Khalmerpayutinskoe field was built in 2014," reads a statement released by Rosneft on Thursday. "The level of utilization of accompanying petroleum gas (“APG”) reached 86.8% in 9M 2015 compared to 78.6% in 9M 2014."

In the document, Rosneft did not clarify what the consequences may be of the sharp falls in gas prices.  

On Friday, Gazprom reduced its 2015 forecasts to 427 bcm, a significant decrease on its forecasts released six months ago,which expected production for the year to reach 485 bcm.

Gazprom’s production in 2014 stood at 445 bcm.