Profit for January-March was up from 336.8 billion rubles in the same period a year ago, the Moscow-based company said in a statement.
The results, which beat analyst forecasts, were driven by gas sales in Europe that rose by nearly 40 percent in that quarter, to 398 billion rubles ($13.8 billion).
Sales figures grew on the back of higher oil prices while the volumes rose by 12 percent to 46.6 billion cubic meters in the first quarter.
The UralSib investment bank said in a note to investors that growth in gas exports was also “visible” in the second quarter, but that is unlikely to influence the total yearly figures.
The bank warned that “European customers were probably buying excess gas” in the first half of the year to avoid more expensive purchases in the final six months and the fourth quarter in particularly when demand for gas traditionally goes up.
