MOSCOW: Russia's Gazprom, the world's top gas producer, posted on Wednesday 362.3 billion roubles ($5.6 billion) in the first-quarter net profit, slightly beating an average forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Analysts expected Gazprom to report a 361.2 billion rouble net profit, compared to 382 billion roubles in the first quarter of last year.

Gazprom's revenue rose to 1.737 trillion roubles from 1.648 trillion roubles a year ago, while analysts had forecast 1.644 trillion roubles.

Copyright Reuters, 2016