Executive: Gazprom expects EBITDA to jump 50% to $30 bln in 2021

MOSCOW, Jun 16 (PRIME) -- Russian gas giant Gazprom expects its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to jump by 50% to around U.S. $30 billion in 2021, Deputy CEO Famil Sadygov said in a news conference on Wednesday.

“Taking into account the positive dynamics of oil and gas markets for the past five months and the good results of our first quarter, we obviously expect a significant improvement of the financial indicators until the end of the year. The first is EBITDA. We expect EBITDA increase of 50% as compared with the previous year to $30 billion,” he said.

The company also wants to maintain or even reduce debt to achieve the net debt to EBITDA  ratio of 1.6–1.8x as of the end of 2021, he said.

At the same time, Gazprom is preparing several issues of new Eurobonds.

“Speaking of issuing the Eurobonds, yes, we plan to do that, there will even be several issues soon. But the issues, the dates, and the currencies will depend on the market research. … We are considering issues in the euros, U.S. dollars, and Swiss francs,” he said.

He also said that Gazprom planned to export 8.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China in 2021, and expects revenue from exports to China to double from 44.3 billion rubles in 2020.

(71.8318 rubles – U.S. $1)

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