Gazprom has cut gas exports.

Export of "Gazprom" in the far abroad from January 1 to March 15, 2009 amounted to 24 billion cubic meters of gas to 40 billion cubic meters a year earlier. This writes the newspaper "Vedomosti", with reference to the Central Dispatching Management of fuel and energy complex (CDU TEK). This gas production in March continued to decline - from 1 to March 16, the reduction rate of 21 percent over the same period a year earlier.
In relation to the February decline in production was nine percent. For comparison, the reduction rate in February was 11.2 percent the previous month and in January - 6.1 percent. In February, the selection of underground gas storage facilities fell by 79 per cent.
In December 2008, Gazprom had planned for 2009 revenue from the sale of gas at 2.4 trillion rubles. In doing so, the maximum income - almost 768 billion rubles - was scheduled for the first quarter of this year. According to Vedomosti, the fall in gas prices and reduced demand could significantly reduce the earnings of gas companies. In the first quarter of 2009, Gazprom had planned to deliver to foreign countries 43.6 billion cubic meters at a total cost of 530 billion rubles.
Given this situation, exports of Gazprom may reach about 29 billion cubic meters of gas. This means that the gas company's earnings will be 670-685 billion rubles, which is 11-15 percent less than the plan and at 4-6 per cent less than in the first quarter of 2008. In Gazprom's reduction in export volumes attributed to the fact that Europeans restrict gas purchases, expecting lower prices. In doing so, they began to choose the gas from underground storage.
The decline of profits by Gazprom forced the company to begin the search of investors. March 17, 2009 capitalization of the company on the RTS stock exchange was 87 billion dollars, almost four times less than the summer of 2008. It writes the newspaper Kommersant, the company began to make attempts to attract Asian investors. In what form this will happen is not clear. According to the newspaper, in 2007, Gazprom is considered the opportunity to reach out to the Shanghai stock exchange at the expense of additional issue of shares. Now the company intends to place on the grounds of existing stock of paper.