Russia's Gazprom today posted a 35% drop in nine-month net profit to 556.3 billion roubles ($8.13 billion) year-on-year.
The slump comes as the world's top gas producer was hit by a dispute with Ukraine and currency losses.
The company has put aside 83.9 billion roubles in provisions for Ukraine's gas debt which prompted Moscow to cut off supplies in June.
Gazprom said today the future would also be bleak, with plunging oil prices possibly curtailing its investment plans.
"Further falls in oil may negatively affect our business ... (and) the ability to finance planned capital investments," Gazprom said in a statement for its nine-month results ending in September.
It was referring to oil prices which have fallen about 60% since June. Gas prices usually lag oil prices for six to nine months.
Russia and Ukraine reached an interim gas deal agreement in October and Kiev paid off part of its debts to Gazprom, which the Russian producer now puts at $2.44 billion. Kiev disagrees with this estimate. The agreement expires at the end of March.
Sergei Komlev, a directorate head at Gazprom, said the company is doing its "utmost to resolve problems with (Ukraine's) Naftogaz."
He said that Moscow did not want to "endanger the well-earned trust of our European partners" which get around a third of its gas needs from Russia, half of which come via Ukraine.
Gazprom said in its statement that revenue in nine months reached 4 trillion roubles, up from 3.77 trillion roubles the same time a year earlier.
The gas producer added it had a foreign exchange loss of 320.7 billion roubles in the nine-month period compared to a loss of 115.4 billion roubles during the same period of 2013 after the rouble plunged on weaker oil and Western sanctions over Ukraine.
Gazprom's results include its oil business as well, Gazprom Neft, which is also drilling for Arctic and unconventional oil, areas both hit by sanctions.
Gazprom's third quarter net profit was at 105.7 billion roubles, down from 276.1 billion roubles the same time a year earlier but better than analysts' forecasts for 46 billion roubles.
