February 28 (SeeNews) - Romanian oil refiner Rompetrol Rafinare [BSE:RRC] said it has swung to a consolidated net loss of $23 million (20.1 million euro) in 2018, compared to a $21 million profit in the previous year.
The consolidated preliminary financial results in 2018 were affected by the high volatility of the oil and gas market, by a major fall in the gross refining margin in the last quarter of the year - to $40.7 per tonne from $55.2 per tonne in 2017, as well as by the general economic environment in Romania and the region, the company said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Rompetrol Rafinare's consolidated operating result (EBITDA) fell by 27% on the year to close to $153 million in 2018.
Gross turnover rose 27% to $5.26 billion due to higher prices of petroleum products.
"The year 2018 has become a turning point in the 40-year history of the Petromidia Refinery - raw materials processed, products obtained, processing capacity utilisation degree, reduction of technological losses, improvement of the energy efficiency index or over 2 million hours free of incidents," the company's general manager, Yedil Utekov, said.
Rompetrol Rafinare said it had remarkable operational performance in 2018 at its two refineries – Petromidia Navodari and Vega Ploiesti, as well as at the Petrochemicals Division on the Midia industrial platform, against the backdrop of increased market volatility, especially in the fourth quarter.
Rompetrol Rafinare is the core asset of Dutch-based KMG International, formerly The Rompetrol Group, which is fully owned by Kazakhstan's state-owned energy company KazMunaiGaz Group.
Exports by the refining and petrochemicals divisions to the KMG International subsidiaries in Bulgaria, Moldova and Georgia and to the partners in the Black Sea region increased 27% to $1.7 billion last year, the company said.
Rompetrol Rafinare increased its contribution to Romania’s state budget to $1.5 billion last year, approximately $300 million higher than the 2017 contribution.
Through its two oil refineries, Rompetrol Rafinare accounts for over 40% of Romania's refining capacity and is the only producer of polymers in the country.
Rompetrol Rafinare shares traded unchanged at 0.0510 lei as at 0916 CET on the Bucharest Stock Exchange on Thursday.
($ = 0.8773 euro)
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