Russia's Gazprom Considers Staff Cuts and Overseas Branch Closures

Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom is reportedly considering closing its offices in Belgium and Japan.

According to TASS news agency on the 16th (local time), Gazprom stated that it will hold a board meeting on the 28th to discuss the closure of its representative offices in Brussels, Belgium, and Tokyo, Japan.

The Belgium office has been operating for over 11 years since December 2013, and the Tokyo office was also established in 2013.

Gazprom is also expected to consider extending the terms of its board members.

Earlier, Gazprom was reported to be reviewing the largest workforce reduction plan in its history. The plan is to reduce the headquarters staff in Saint Petersburg from 4,100 to 2,500 employees.

Since Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine, Gazprom has faced severe energy sanctions from the West, leading to management difficulties.

In 2023, Gazprom recorded a loss of 629 billion rubles (approximately 8.9 trillion KRW), the largest in 25 years.

Gas sales plummeted from 8.4 trillion rubles (about 118 trillion KRW) to 4.1 trillion rubles (about 57 trillion KRW), and total revenue fell by 30% compared to the previous year, reaching 8.5 trillion rubles (about 119 trillion KRW).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.