Having lost two-thirds of its gas exports after an unsuccessful attempt to freeze Europe and having accumulated a trillion rubles in net losses last year alone, Gazprom is asking the government to reduce taxes.

The company believes it is necessary to analyze the tax burden for Gazprom together with the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance and "make a certain adjustment," Vitaly Khatkov, head of department 817 of the state corporation, said at the "Russian Fuel and Energy Complex in the 21st Century" forum on Wednesday.

According to him, Gazprom sees an opportunity to "adjust" the mineral extraction tax (MET) on gas, which currently brings about 13% of all oil and gas revenues to the treasury - 1.44 trillion rubles out of 11.1 trillion, according to the Ministry of Finance for last year.

"The growth dynamics of expenses for paying the mineral extraction tax for Gazprom since 2000 turned out to be higher than the dynamics of changes in gas prices," RIA Novosti quotes Khatkov as saying. The top manager added that Gazprom is ready to "submit the necessary materials" to the government.

A tax cut is urgently needed by the gas monopoly, which lost its main sales market - Europe - after the start of the war with Ukraine. In 2023-24, Gazprom's exports to European countries fell to 28-32 billion cubic meters per year and became the lowest since the second half of the 1970s.

In 2023, the company received a net loss for the first time in 25 years under international financial reporting standards (IFRS), and last year it reported a loss of 1.08 trillion rubles under RAS.

According to Gazprom's own forecasts for the period from 2025 to 2034. The total "hole" in the company's budget will amount to 15 trillion rubles (almost $180 billion at the current exchange rate). To make ends meet, Gazprom is preparing to close three departments, merge eight others, sell real estate, and cut 1,600 employees (almost 40%) at headquarters.