Business Development in 2009

GAZPROM Germania Records Second-Highest Annual Profit

GAZPROM Germania GmbH has recorded the second-highest annual profit in its almost 20-year history for the 2009 financial year. Its consolidated natural gas sales amounted to 779.0 TWh (446.6 TWh excluding trading) compared to 555.2 TWh the previous year (354.5 TWh excluding trading). Revenue was calculated according to modified accounting principles and rose from EUR 5,582.8 million in the previous year to EUR 8,029.5 million. The group’s result for the year was EUR 496.5 million (previous year EUR 537.1 million).

GAZPROM Germania GmbH has now paid a EUR 356 million dividend to its sole shareholder Gazprom export LLC for the 2009 financial year, compared with a total of EUR 85 million for the 2003-2008 financial years.

In 2009, the GAZPROM Germania group’s activities again focused on the marketing of natural gas of Russian and Central Asian origin in Europe and the former Soviet Union and trading in Europe’s liberalized markets.

In close cooperation with Gazprom export LLC, the GAZPROM Germania group trades natural gas in two sectors: The first sector comprises Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union countries (handled by GAZPROM Germania GmbH and ZMB (Schweiz) AG, and the second focuses on the United Kingdom, France, the United States, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Turkey (handled by Gazprom Marketing & Trading Ltd, Vemex s. r. o., PremiumGas S. p. A., and Bosphorus Gaz Corporation A. S.).

In the coming years, the group will continue to expand its trading activities and complement this expansion by investing in gas power plants and natural gas storage facilities. GAZPROM Germania invested around EUR 150 million in subsidiary management and natural gas storage projects in the 2009 financial year.

ZMB (Schweiz) AG was not able to reach the sales volumes it recorded the previous year, in part due to reduced sales of Uzbek gas to the southern regions of Kazakhstan; its gas sales fell around 10 % to 10.3 Gm³. The result fell slightly against the previous year due to lower sales of Uzbek natural gas.

Despite the financial crisis and the significant drop in price on the British gas market and other liquid markets, the Gazprom Marketing & Trading group (GM&T group), a GPG subsidiary, was able to more than double its net income to GBP 114.8 million. The GM&T group continued to grow, both in their established core gas marketing and trading business (comprising trading, optimization, and end customer distribution) and in LNG, electricity, and CO2 trading, which are currently being developed.

Despite an adverse market situation, Vemex s. r. o. succeeded in strengthening its position on the Czech natural gas market in 2009. It recorded sales volumes of around 770 Mm³ in 2009, which are comparable to those of the previous year. Vemex supplies around 40 end customers in the Czech Republic; these are primarily large commercial and industrial customers.

In 2009, Bosphorus Gaz Corporation A. S. (BGC) commenced active gas sales in Turkey. Since July 2009, it has also purchased LNG from the Turkish company EgeGaz in an effort to expand its purchasing portfolio. BGC sold around 734 Mm³ in Turkey in 2009. Its customers were Turkish power stations and industrial customers.