The world\'s largest gas company, the state-controlled Russian giant Gazprom, on Tuesday announced that its net profits rose five percent in the first quarter to 380.7 billion rubles ($11.4 billion). The rise in profits was driven by an increase in net sales of 19 percent, helped largely by an increase of sales of Gazprom\'s core gas product by 25 percent over the period, the company said in a statement.