MOSCOW, November 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Thursday its net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) dropped 24.75% in the third quarter of 2007 against the second quarter to $2.25 billion.
Gazprom's net profit was 73.7 billion rubles (about $3 billion) in the second quarter of this year.
"The drop in net profit was mostly caused by a seasonal reduction in revenues from Gazprom's natural gas sales," the company said in a statement.
The gas monopoly said its profits were 194 billion rubles (around $8 billion) in January-September 2007, down 17.7% against the same period last year, when Gazprom received 236 billion rubles ($9.5 billion).
Gazprom, in which the government controls over 50%, said its net profit increased 69% in 2006 to 344 billion rubles (almost $14 billion) year-on-year.
