The board of directors of Russia’s Gazprom has cut its investment program for 2023 by 14.5% to 1.97 trillion rubles ($21.22 billion) from a previously estimated level of 2.3 trillion rubles after falling gas prices, EFE and Reuters reported. .

Gazprom, which has lost much of its market share in Europe since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, is trying to realign its exports to China and Turkey, which will require massive investments in gas transportation infrastructure.

Gazprom’s investment program in 2022 was estimated at 1,980 billion rubles.

“Taking into account changes in macroeconomic indicators and the market situation, the level of the investment program was reduced by 334 billion rubles. After the drop in gas prices in the first half of 2023, we included in the new version of the budget a reduction in revenues from the sale of gas,” said the vice president of the Russian natural gas producer Famil Sadigov.

He added: “This change reflects our current costs. The total effect of such optimization will exceed 1,000 billion rubles for the Russian economy,” Agerpres reports.