Gazprom, the world’s largest natural gas producer, reported substantial losses for the first quarter of this year on Tuesday, as the coronavirus pandemic reduced natural gas demand and prices, according to the Financial Times, quoted by Agerpres.

Between January and March 2020, Gazprom recorded a net loss of 116.2 billion rubles ($1.6 billion), compared to a net profit of 535.9 billion rubles in the same period, last year. These are the first quarterly losses recorded by Gazprom since the third quarter of 2015.

As factories and offices closed to comply with quarantine measures, gas sales to Europe and China fell by 17%, while the average selling price fell by 36% to 10,800 rubles ($152) for 1,000 cubic meters, so that in the first quarter Gazprom’s revenues fell by a quarter to 1.7 trillion rubles ($24.4 billion).

“The external conditions in which Gazprom and the entire industry operate in 2020 are considered by analysts to be extremely unfavorable,” said Gazprom Vice President, Famil Sadygov. He stressed, however, that losses in the first quarter are mainly “on paper” and are due to significant exchange rate differences. “Under these conditions, the company’s financial results in the first quarter cannot be considered bad. We have generated a positive cash flow and kept the debt burden at a comfortable level,” Sadygov added.