February 16 (SeeNews) - Romanian gas transmission company Transgaz [BSE:TGN] said on Thursday its net profit rose 22% year-on-year in 2016, reaching 595.7 million lei ($140 million/131 million euro).
Operating revenues rose 12% to 1.86 billion lei, while operating costs increased by an annual 20% to 698.8 million lei, Transgaz said in its 2016 financial report citing preliminary figures.
Transgaz was planning 721.9 million lei investments in 2016, but only managed to invest 139.173 million lei, for reasons related to legal matters on field access, authorisations not obtained in due time, and changes in national regulations, it said.
In July, Transgaz signed interconnection agreements with the gas transmission system operators of Bulgaria and Ukraine for a back-up gas link under the Danube river.
The underwater pipeline with a maximum design capacity of 1.5 billion cu m a year will connect the southern Romanian village of Comasca with Marten, in northern Bulgaria.
The total costs of the 25-km Bulgaria-Romania gas link are estimated at 24 million euro ($26.8 million). The project is co-financed with 13.3 million euro in EU funds.
Majority state-owned Transgaz is a component of the Bucharest bourse's blue-chip index, the BET. Transgaz shares closed at 347 lei on Thursday, up 6.12%.
(1 euro=4.5226 lei)