October 30 (SeeNews) - Romania's top oil and gas group, OMV Petrom [BSE:SNP], said on Wednesday its net profit rose by 3% year-on-year to 2.76 billion lei ($643 million/580 million euro) in the first nine months of 2019.
The increase was sustained by higher sales, blue-chip OMV Petrom said in its third-quarter unaudited consolidated financial statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
Sales rose 13% year-on-year to 16.1 billion lei in the nine months through September, supported by higher sales volumes in both Downstream Oil and Downstream Gas. The downstream segment contributed 74% of total sales, downstream gas accounted for 24% and upstream for 2%.
OMV expects 2019 CAPEX, including capitalized exploration and appraisal, to be around 4 billion lei, of which around 75% will be in Upstream, the company said. Capital expenditures fell 10% to 2.79 billion lei in the first nine months of 2019.
The company's contribution to the state budget totalled 9 billion lei in January-September.
In the upstream segment, OMV Petrom posted a 2.1 billion lei clean operating result, 12% lower on the year.
Total hydrocarbon production shrank 6% to 41.39 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in the nine months through September, due to lower output in Romania.
Exploration expenditures rose by an annual 3% to 321 million lei in the first nine months of 2019.
In the downstream segment, the group's clean operating result rose 16% on the year to 1.1 billion lei in the January-September period of 2019. The Petrobrazi refinery utilization rate was at 96% during the first 9 months, reaching 99% in the third quarter, which marks excellent operational performance, OMV said.
Total sales of refined petroleum products rose 11% year-on-year to 4.05 million tonnes in the nine months through September. Gas sales volumes rose by an annual 2% to 35 TWh while net electricity output fell 9% to 2.13 TWh.
In the third quarter alone, OMV Petrom's net profit plummeted by 43% year-on-year to 785 million lei, while sales rose 10% to 6.87 billion lei.
OMV Petrom posted a 4.07 billion lei ($979 million/854 million euro) net profit in 2018, up by 64% against the previous year.
OMV Aktiengesellschaft, one of the largest listed industrial companies in Austria, holds a 51.011% stake in OMV Petrom. The Romanian state, through the energy ministry, owns 20.639%, Fondul Proprietatea controls 9.998%, and 18.352% is in free float on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
Shares of OMV Petrom traded 2.63% lower at 0.4255 lei as at 0933 CET on Wednesday on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
(1 euro=4.7567 lei)