Romanian top oil and gas group OMV Petrom, majority-controlled by Austria’s OMV, reported on Tuesday (Oct. 29) sales worth RON26.7 billion in the first nine months of 2024, down 6% on an annual basis. Net profit increased by 54% to RON3.9 billion (EUR789.6) amid the absense of solidarity tax on refined crude oil, which had burdened the prior-year period’s profit by 2.355 billion lei.
“In the first 9 months of the year, market demand for all our products was slightly higher, however with volatile prices, down for natural gas and power and significantly lower refining margins. The clean operating result for this period amounted to 4.8 billion lei, supported by the efficiency of our integrated activities, still impacted by high regulatory interventions in the gas and power sector. The contribution to the state budget was 12.5 billion lei, similar to last year” Christina Verchere, CEO OMV Petrom said.
“We continued to transform our activities for a low-carbon future, investments reflecting the progress of our strategy. We had record investments for January – September, of almost 5 bn lei, with over 40% being allocated to strategic projects such as Neptun Deep, renewable power and electro-mobility.”
Consolidated adjusted current cost of supplies (CCS) operating result decreased by 23% on an annual basis in the period under review, to 4.774 billion lei mainly driven by the weaker and more volatile market environment and regulatory interventions.
The exploration and production segment recorded a 2.428 billion lei adjusted operating result in the first nine months of 2024, down 26% on the year, amid a fall in natural gas prices and lower volumes available for sale, the company said.
In the refining and marketing segment, the group’s adjusted CCS operating result in the January-September period stood at 2.008 billion lei, up 15% from last year. This increase was mainly due to the low base from last year’s refinery turnaround in the second quarter and improved performance of the sales channels.
The gas and power division had an adjusted operating result of 428 million lei, down 74% compared to the same period a year ago. Despite good operational performance, the result was affected by legislative changes and market dynamics. Natural gas sales volumes declined 11% to 30.55 TWh, due to lower volumes to wholesalers and final consumers. Net electricity output grew by 46% to 3.59 TWh.
