Russian giant Gazprom on August 10 reported a $5.6bn net profit in January-March 2016, a fall of only 5.2% year-on-year, achieved chiefly by selling almost half as much gas again to Europe.

Gazprom itself said the slight profit decline showed its “ability to manage challenging environment through diversification of income streams” at a time when “the majority of the peer group have seen double-digit percentage reduction in net income.”

The figures, provided to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), show net income of rubles 362.3bn ($5.6bn) compared with its 1Q 2015 figure of rubles 382.1bn.

Gazprom's sales volume to its core ‘Europe and other’ markets in 1Q grew by 49% to 58.1bn m³, an increase of 19bn m³ on 39.1bn m³ in January-March 2015. Sales to former Soviet countries declined by 15.5% (by 2bn m³) to 10.9bn m³, while those in Russia declined more modestly to 75.4bn m³, just 6% or 4.9bn m³ less than in 1Q 2015.

Read more at Natural Gas Europe.