E.ON Ruhrgas recorded 17.9 bln Euros sales in 2005, up 35 percent compared to the previous year. The pre-tax profit reached 1.54, up 14 percent than in 2004, according to a company’s press release. The reasons for the rises were low temperatures and expanding business abroad, which accounted for 20 percent of total send out in 2005.

The German company took over 51 percent of the Distrigaz Nord stocks in Romania in June last year, and changed its name into E.ON Gaz Romania on April 1, 2006, but it recorded losses of 121 mln RON in 2005.

The loss comes from the increased acquisition cost and the stable price of natural gas for consumers. For the current year, a new price management has been put in place and the acquisition costs will be covered.

In 2005, E On Gaz Romania recorded a turnover of 2.09 bln RON, and invested 97 mln RON in pipes replacements and equipment upgrading.

E.ON Gaz Romania boasts 1.2 mln consumers in 20 counties of Romania. The total gas volume sold in 2005 reached 4 bln cubic meters, out of which approx 60 percent was delivered to companies.

The Germany's leading gas company delivered approx. 690 billion kWh gas, about 8 percent higher than in the previous year. In the first quarter of this year, E.ON Ruhrgas recorded an 18 percent increase in send out (266 billion kWh).

The upstream sector was the focal point in 2005, when the German company acquired the British gas production company Caledonia Oil and Gas. Upstream involvement in the British and Norwegian North Sea enabled E.ON Ruhrgas in 2005 to obtain significantly higher gas volumes from its own production than in the previous year.

E.On announced plans of acquiring a one-quarter stake in the Russian gas field Yuzhno Russkoye. Negotiations with Gazprom are under way.