Russia's state-controlled gas firm OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) saw its daily average gas production in the first two weeks of February fall 13.3% from 2008 due to lower demand, the Vedomosti daily says Tuesday citing Energy Ministry data.
While Gazprom's January production - down 13.7% from 2008 - was largely due to the gas conflict with Ukraine, February's decline is due to lower industrial demand amid the financial downturn, the paper says.
The data showed that Russia's overall gas production had fallen 9.9% in the first two weeks of February, the paper says.
The Kommersant daily wrote that Gazprom's January export fell 74.1% compared with the same period a year earlier and that European gas demand this year could fall by between 7% and 10% from 2008.