Bloomberg: Russia Cuts Forecast for Gazprom Dividend as Spending Rises

OAO Gazprom, the world’s largest natural-gas producer, may pay a lower dividend in 2016 than Russia earlier predicted as investments in export pipelines soar, according to materials for a government meeting last week.

The Finance Ministry expects to get 84.4 billion rubles ($2.5 billion) from Gazprom dividends in 2016, 32 percent less than an earlier forecast of 124.7 billion rubles, according to the document obtained by Bloomberg News. The new figure equates to 9.3 rubles a share, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The government’s lower forecast for dividends may reflect investment plans at state-controlled Gazprom. The Moscow-based company decided in May to spend $55 billion in the next decade to build a gas pipeline to China and develop east Siberian fields. It must also finance the $22 billion South Stream pipeline project to the European Union.
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