Romania’s top oil and gas group OMV Petrom [BSE:SNP] said on Friday that its preliminary net profit fell 80% on the year to 944 million lei ($213.2 billion/191.5 million euro) in the first six months of 2023.
The drop in profit was due to falling energy prices and the payment of an additional 1.5 billion lei tax on windfall profits from refined crude oil for 2022 representing a solidarity contribution, OMV Petrom said in an unaudited financial statement.
“In the first six months of the year, commodity prices for energy decreased significantly from the 2022 records, getting closer to the pre-energy crisis levels.,” Christina Verchere, OMV Petrom CEO, said in a separate press release.
OMV Petrom’s consolidated sales revenue decreased by an annual 30% to 17.864 billion lei in the first half of 2023, as lower commodity prices and sales volumes of petroleum products and electricity negatively impacted the result and were only partially compensated by higher sales volumes of natural gas.
The group’s Refining and Marketing segment accounted for 66% of total sales, Gas and Power represented 33%, while Exploration and Production had a share of 0.2%.
Capital expenditures rose 72% year-on-year to 2.393 billion lei in January-June, of which most was directed to the group’s Exploration and Production division with investments of 1.161 billion. Investments in the Refining and Marketing division amounted to 1.146 billion lei, while Gas and Power was the recipient of 59 million lei.
The group’s clean operating result sat at 3.709 billion lei, down by an annual 37%, due to lower contributions from all business segments which were affected by the refinery turnaround in the Refining and Marketing segment, the decrease in prices in Exploration and Production, as well as lower gas margins from third party transactions and equity gas in the Gas and Power division.
The group swung to a net loss of 537 million lei in the second quarter of 2023, from a net profit of 2.898 billion lei in the corresponding period of last year.
Austria's OMV Aktiengesellschaft holds a 51.157% stake in OMV Petrom. The Romanian economy ministry owns 20.698% and 28.145% is free float on the Bucharest bourse and the London Stock Exchange.
OMV Petrom shares traded 0.45% lower at 0.5475 lei as at 1018 CET on Friday on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
(SeeNews, July 28, 2023)
