MOSCOW- The price for natural gas exported by Russian energy giant Gazprom GAZP.MM , mainly to Europe, rose to $172.80 per thousand cubic metres in February, customs data showed on Tuesday.

That was up from $170 the previous month and $142.80 in February last year.

Gazprom generated $2.95 billion of sales revenue from exports in February, up 46% year on year, the data showed.

The company exported 17.1 billion cubic metres of natural gas in the month, up 20% year on year.

(Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin Editing by David Goodman ) ((vladimir.soldatkin@reuters.com; +7 495 775 12 42;))