The oil arm of Russian gas monopoly OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) said Wednesday it swung to a net loss in the fourth quarter of 2008 due to a fall in oil prices, high export duties and a foreign exchange loss.
OAO Gazprom Neft (SIBN.RS) posted a net loss of $543 million between October and December compared with a profit of $1.32 billion a year earlier as revenue slipped 24% to $4.99 billion.
"The decrease in financial results for the forth quarter reflected the impact of the significant sequential decrease in oil prices, lagged export duties and non-cash currency translation loss," the company said in a statement.