Romanian gas transmission company Transgaz [BSE:TGN] said on Thursday its first-quarter net profit rose 5% on the year to 201.8 million lei ($45 million/42 million euro).
Operating revenues grew by 8% on the year to 512.8 million lei in the January-March period of 2020, Transgaz said in an unaudited first-quarter report.
Operating costs rose by an annual 6% to 272.3 million lei in January-March.
Investments made by Transgaz in the first quarter totalled 391 million lei, mostly for National Transmission System connections and installations.
Transgaz's net profit fell by 29% to 349.4 million lei last year due to a drop in transmission tariffs.
In January, Transgaz said that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with peers and organisations from Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Greece and three other countries for the development of natural gas networks in Eastern Europe.
Also in January, Transgaz said that works are on schedule for the completion of the pipeline that would link the city of Iasi to the capital of neigbouring Moldova - Chisinau, via Ungheni. The Ungheni - Chisinau project involves the construction of a gas pipeline 120 kilometres in length, three gas delivery stations as well as the procurement of equipment. The Iasi-Ungheni section of the pipeline, put into operation in 2014, can transport about 1.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
Transgaz' shares traded 0.37% lower at 266 lei on the Bucharest Stock Exchange as at 1327 CET on Thursday.
(SeeNews, May 14, 2020)
